Separated
by HappiestUnderClouds
Summary: Shiro and Ichigo are twins, separated at birth. They die and go to Soul Society where they finally meet. They train to be Soul Reapers, and learn more about their human lives, and begin to uncover a conspiracy that could change their entire lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi again everybody! **

**Title: Separated **

**Summary: Shiro and Ichigo are separated at birth, die, and go to the soul society where they meet for the first time. Of course, they, being the stubborn idiots they are, don't get along. This is the story of how the 2 become Soul Reapers/Shinigami and discover things about their human pasts. No Yaoi. Once again, I apologize for the terrible summary...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, sadly. Shiro would get more airtime, and Orihime would be banned to a far side of the universe (no offense Orihime fans!)**

**Separated**

_A woman's screams had just died down, as the bulk of the pain was over. Her eyes were a viewing window to the pain and exhaustion flowing through her, as she glanced around the hospital room. Her husband was next to her, his own eyes filled with worry for her, and joy at the miracle that had just happened. _

''_Honey, we have twins!" The man whispered excitedly into her light brown hair. _

_Her eyes twitched from him to the doctor, who was giving commands to nurses. She could hear wailing, but not just by one voice, but by _**two**_ small voices. She beamed, but the smile slowly faded as she realized their predicament. _

_She was unemployed for at least another couple of months, though she knew her husband would insist she be a stay-at-home mom, which was impossible at this point. Her husband's job was just starting to pick up, but they couldn't afford to have 2 children. _

_They could only keep one…How did she not see this coming? She watched sadly as the nurse spoke to her husband about names. He spun excitedly, but the excitement died at her expression._

"_We can't keep both," she spoke, her voice trembling. "You know that, sweetheart.''_

_The man's eyes narrowed. "Sure we can. I can get another job until mine picks up at a faster pace and then-"_

_His wife shook her head sharply, cutting off his hopeful, almost pleading sentence. "Be rational. Your regular job takes up enough hours. We can't, honey, we simply can't." Sadness colored her face, and she clutched onto her husband's hand. _

_The nurse walked up to the opposite side of the bed that the man was on, and spoke softly. "What would you like to name your sons?"_

"_M-may I see them first," she asked, voice cracking. _

_Two nurses approached the bed, each holding a bundle in their arms. One nurse handed the bundle in a blue blanket to the woman, and the other nurse gave the other blue bundle to the man. _

_The wife smiled softly at the baby in her arms. He was sleeping peacefully, tiny hands curled into fists. His hair was a bright orange and his mouth became an 'O' as he yawned and wriggled. _

_Meanwhile, the man was watching his son open and close his mouth, like he was a little fish. His eyes were open, moving around to look at everything, but normally just staring at his father. They were a brilliant gold color, and seemed deep, like you could almost see to his soul. Even stranger was his white hair, and pale skin color, despite his brother's skin being a few shades darker. _

"_I've decided on a name for my little orange, here," the wife whispered. _

_The husband nodded for her to go ahead and tell._

"_Ichigo…..Ichigo Kurosaki."_

"_Strawberry?"_

_The wife reached out to slap his arm lightly._

"_No! 'One who protects.' "_

_The man considered this and nodded. "But of course, it doesn't help that he has orange hair. I mean look at it! It's like a neon sign!" This earned him another slap on the arm. _

"_And how about his twin? What shall we name him?" _

_The husband thought for a moment. "Look at his white hair. Perhaps….Haku?"_

_The wife mulled it over. She smiled her approval. "Ichigo and Haku."_

_Then the financial problem slapped her in the face again. "We still can't keep both of them. What are we going to do?"_

"_Perhaps you should put the stronger one up for adoption." A new voice interrupted them. It belonged to the doctor. He was an older man, his hair graying, his face kind and gentle._

"_The weaker one needs his mother. The stronger twin can handle breastfeeding from another woman. This is how the advice I give to anyone in this pickle. May I see them again?"_

_The couple nodded their approval and the doctor sidled over to the hospital bed to get a closer to the sleeping Ichigo. He felt his pulse and gently felt his arms and limbs. He spun and walked over to Haku, doing the same to him. Haku simply stared at the doctor in the way all babies do, his golden orbs watching the man's every movement. _

_The doctor sighed. "It appears Haku is much stronger than Ichigo. Those are the twins' names, correct?"_

_The man nodded. _

"_I still leave the decision to you, but this is my advice. Please press the nurses' button whenever you have made your decision. Take your time." With those words, he left the couple and twins in silence._

"_I think you know what we have to do."_

_The woman nodded, pushing back tears. "Le…Let me see him. Haku. Please."_

_The man complied, choking back his own tears as he passed his oldest son to his wife. He immediately regretted it. He felt he needed to protect this child, to hold him close and never release him, no matter what. As he held Ichigo, his lover cooed at Haku._

"_Hello, my sweet Haku. Welcome to the world. I love you, my little child. But I must let you go." _

_At this point the tears broke through the dam and spread across her cheeks, and followed her chin line, to drip on her chest. _

_Haku simply stared at his mother, watching as she fell apart, whilst saying goodbye to her first son. _

"_Please don't hate me for this. I would do anything to change it all. I would give the world to my sons, my sweet babies, who've already got me twisted around their little fingers. Never think I wanted to do this. Haku, my snow haired child, my white Christmas, please, I beg you someday forgive me for this."_

_The tears flowed, as if endless, and one dripped on the child's face. He reached his hand to touch the drop, and then his mother's face. She shifted, holding his hand on her face, gently kissing his face. _

"_There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, little Haku. I have a present to give you, so you may not forget us, your family." _

_She reached over onto the nightstand and picked up her gold locket. It was the size of a quarter, and hung from a thin gold chain. There was a heart engraved on it, with small flowing lines circling around it. There was nothing on the inside, so she simply opened it and kissed it, closing it quickly. _

"_My kiss is forever inside this locket, so whenever you feel angry, open this, and feel my love for you." _

_She cuddled up to her child before reaching over to the nurses' button. She hesitated before hitting it, considering not giving up her snow-haired child, but she knew it couldn't be done. She didn't want to put him and his brother through a life of poverty. Better that he live with a family capable of caring for him._

_She tapped the button, and moments later, a nurse walked in. She was young, with black hair in a ponytail, light blue eyes sadly watching the scene. _

"_Yes?"_

"_We…..We have made…the decision."_

_The nurse nodded._

"_Haku is to have a home of a caring family, with endless love, who will keep him close. Can you promise me this?" The woman spoke desperately._

_The nurse smiled gently. "I will oversee his adoption myself, ma'am."_

_The woman sighed in relief, and gave her husband the time to say goodbye to Haku. He handed Haku to the nurse, the hesitation and grief written on his face, and reflected in the movement of his limbs. He released his child and folded into himself and collapsed into a chair, his sobs obvious by the shaking of his shoulders. _

_Another nurse came to take Ichigo in for another check up on how he was doing, and the woman joined her husband in grief. _

'_Haku….I'm so sorry.' This thought passed through her mind many times before finally exhaustion overcame her and she shut her eyes and slipped gratefully into unconsciousness._

**Several Years Later**

_A young man was driving to visit an old friend. His wife and daughter were home, snuggled under the covers, watching The Little Mermaid. It was after dinnertime, about 7-ish, because the man's wife made his favorite meal. _

_It was pouring, and the windshield wipers were on high, trying to push the waterfall off the windshield, a pointless gesture. It was pitch black outside and lightning continued to flash across the sky. It was almost always followed by loud claps of thunder, enough to rattle the small, black, 4-door car._

'Perhaps tonight wasn't a good night to leave…But I'm already halfway there. I might as well keep going...'

_He flicked the knob to turn on his high beams, but even they couldn't penetrate the thick cloak of the rain. The 2 lane highway was busy, like every Friday night, and the man's eyes drifted off to the right of the road. What he saw made his mouth drop. _

_It looked like a huge monster, but before his mind could process any more than that, he heard a loud, low pitched blare of a horn. He jerked his head up, right into the headlights of an 18-wheeler. And then, there was only blackness, and a snail-paced pounding in his ears._

_

* * *

__Around the same time, another young man was in his apartment, in the United States. He was on the 3__rd__ story, on his balcony, smoking a cigarette. _

_Wind blew through his white hair, ruffling it, and he got a bad feeling in his gut. This happened from time to time, but he didn't understand why this dread would suddenly twist like a knife in him. Yet here it was, doing it again. _

_He sighed, taking one last drag and flicked the cigarette off the balcony, turning and walking back into his 2 bedroom apartment. It was nice place to live, at least for now, until his girlfriend's modeling career picked up. Anya had insisted they move to Los Angeles from Japan a year ago, and here they were, breathing in the smog of death. Anya was still at some party, that the man had refused to go to, thinking it would probably be a bunch of druggies._

_The man took notice of a quiet, far away sounding beeping, but ignored it, thinking it was one of the 1__st__ floor idiots again, or perhaps a trickster out trying to annoy people in the town at 3 in the morning. '_Morons. Some people have lives..'

_He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed and snuggled into the covers. He shut his eyes, drifting towards his dream land. _

_He slipped into unconsciousness, just before the sinister grey smoke began to pour in through the air vents. _

* * *

**Man that first part almost killed me. I knew I would get kinda emotional while I was writing it, but I didn't expect it to be THAT hard! **

**Sorry about not using names; I was trying to be kind of vague. I'm trying out this type of intro, because I'm normally pretty straightforward. Tell me what you think, reviews are always welcome here! **

**Oh, and according to that handy thing we call the internet, Haku can mean 'Snow', 'White', and 'Pure'. I personally thought it was a pretty good choice, but you people who actually KNOW Japanese, correct me if I'm wrong, and actually giving Shiro a completely embarassing name!**

**And if you didn't catch the hints in the separate parts, the first part is Ichigo and Shiro's birth (I'm going to refer to 'Haku' as Shiro for the rest of the story), the 2nd part is Ichigo, and the 3rd part is Shiro. **

**I'm not sure how often I'm gonna update, but i'll try to keep this story going!**

**Shiro: Oi, will ya shaddap and let 'em go already?**

**Me: Oh, leave me alone. I'm still the one writing this story, so you really shouldn't piss me off.**

**Shiro: YA A'READY KILLED ME! WHAT ELSE CAN YA DO?**

**Me: Kill you again. Except this time, it'll be worse than simply breathing in the smoke from a fire.**

**Shiro: -growls- Fine then.**

**Me: Alright people, i'm finally done! So-**

**Shiro: Finally**

**Me: -slap- AS I WAS SAYING, Go ahead and review! Thanks so much for reading!**


	2. Soul Society's Greeting

**Well here's chapter 2! **

**First, review replies, cause i'm too lazy to actually send out a message. Darn you laziness and procrastination!**

**d-master: That's what I've been planning, but I'm still questioning whether I should or not. It'd be a nice little plot twist, keeping it a secret from Soul Society because of what happened with Hitsugaya and Hyourinmaru and what's-his-face in Diamond Dust Rebellion, no?**

**Ag-ro-tag: This chapter answers the majority of your questions. I'm sorry I didn't clarify their ages in the last chappy. They were supposed to be around 24. **

**But I've been so bored lately that I decided to update. I hope you guys think this chapter was ok. It's another product of me staying up into the wee hours of morning to complete ^_^'**

* * *

Separated; Chapter 2: Soul Society's greeting

Ichigo peeked through his eyelids. His head was throbbing, and he just wanted to sleep.

"Hm….Why don't I remember anything? Did I suffer amnesia or something? And how would that have happened?"

Pushing the questions to the back of his mind for now he blinked his eyes open, only to squint them shut again and that sharp sunlight. It was quiet, but he could hear loud voices far away, though to him they were only a whisper.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the light, he stood up, only to catch himself on the tree he had apparently been lying under because his knees tried to give out, and his vision swirled with black and red dots.

"Now for the newest problem….What is wrong with me and what am I doing here? Then again…where _is _here?"

He glanced around, seeing trees in the foreground of his vision, small houses and people in the background. The sun was high in the sky, with clouds drifting lazily in wisps around it. It was a nice temperature outside, which tempted Ichigo to lie back down under the warmth of the sun.

"Maybe I should go ask some of those people.."

He groaned as he started walking, realizing how sore he was. But he wasn't dizzy, his knees weren't giving out, and he wasn't falling flat on his face.

'_So far so good…'_

He stretched, as if waking from a long sleep, and started making his way towards the crowd. They appeared to be waiting to get in somewhere, and there were hundreds of them. Some were young and old, tanned and pale, with all different possible hairstyles. They were all dressed in different ways, obviously their own personal choices.

Ichigo looked down and saw he was wearing blue jeans and a red t-shirt. They seemed so familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on why. _Damn amnesia…._

He wandered down to the outskirts of the group and approached a man who looked around his age.

"Uh, excuse me? Can I ask you something?"

The man turned, curious. "Sure, I guess."

"Where are we? What's everyone doing here?"

"You mean you don't know? Welcome to Soul Society!"

'Soul Society' rang a bell in Ichigo's head, but the man continued, interrupting his thoughts.

"We're all standing here because we are dead."

That one shocked Ichigo. His knees gave out and he landed on all fours on the ground.

"I'm…..dead? How is this…..possible?"

"Well it is. We're all standing here so the Soul Reapers can count us and sort us into districts. The lower the number of the district, the nicer it is. You better hope for a low number."

Ichigo nodded, still numb from the guy's last statement, barely taking in any of the new information. The crowd moved forward, and Ichigo stumbled along behind everyone else. After about an hour of standing around thinking about the fact that he was _dead_, he was about 10 feet from the front of the group, where people in black shihakushos were talking sternly to a group of the _dead _people. Then the souls separated into groups, accompanied by the 'Soul Reapers' to go into a small building with a number on it. Ichigo assumed that was the district number.

'Huh. Interesting process. I guess they send the souls to their respective districts at the end of the day…'

Suddenly someone slammed into his side, causing him to fall into some other dead souls, who grumbled angrily. Ichigo stood to look at who pushed him. The pusher looked just like himself, around his own age, 24, except he was extremely pale with white hair, and the strangest gold eyes. He was wearing black jeans with holes in them, and a dark gray shirt.

"What the hell is your problem," Ichigo demanded. He wasn't gonna get pushed and just brush it off like it was nothing!

"Me? Ya just looked too calm and bored. I thought I would liven up your day!" His white look-a-like grinned. "I'm Haku Tsukino. But you can just call me Shiro. Wanna have a quick fight before we never see each other again?"

Ichigo smirked at the thought. "Sounds great. And I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Nice to meet ya, Shiro."

"Don't be too confident, partner, cause I'm gonna win this."

"Will ya now? Maybe we should test that theory!" Ichigo could feel the excitement for the fight flowing through him, along with the competitive feeling.

Shiro grinned crazily. "Don't underestimate me," he yelled, running towards Ichigo, aiming a punch for his gut. Ichigo skittered back. Shiro was a lot faster than he looked. '_I really need to stop underestimating people. Oh well! I'm not losing to this punk.'_ Ichigo took his turn, this time swinging in for a punch to the jaw, but instead was kicked in the chest by his opponent.

'_Damn.'_

He leaped up, darting to the snowy man's side and kicked him in the ribs, earning a small crack from his body. Shiro grunted, and swung his arm towards Ichigo's head. Before it came close to connecting, a deep voice interrupted them.

"Well what do we have here? Fighting, eh? You two look like you have spirit. I think your district assignment should be 78."

Shiro froze at the voice, and the two men looked up at the soul reaper. He was big, but it was from muscle, not fat. He was tall, about half a foot taller than Ichigo and Shiro, and he had a blue handled sword hanging from his side.

"Seventy…..Eight," Ichigo managed to get out. The soul reaper smirked and nodded.

'_Crap.'_

"C'mon, let's go. You 2 are the last ones for the day, so hurry it up. It's Friday Night, so I'm going out drinking for the night with my buddies. And since you boys seem to be acquainted, I think I'll reset you to…say the appearance of 17 year olds, since that's the age you act. And you'll be in a high numbered district, so you can pick as many fights as you want," sneered the soul reaper.

Ichigo and Shiro protested as they were dragged over to a building with the number '78' on a sign on top, along with the characters (七十八). They were pushed through the door into an empty room. All the other souls had already been sent ahead of them. The soul reaper chuckled, causing the men to spin around.

"Have fun, you two," he chuckled as he typed something and pushed a button. Ichigo was suddenly blinded by a bright blue light, and he had the sensation of being pulled somewhere. Then he felt himself hit ground, but he was too tired to care. The sky was dark, so he shut his eyes, and his breathing slowly deepened into that of sleep.

He was awoken by voices. Gruff voices, and a familiar high pitched one. His head pulsed at the sound, but he opened his eyes anyway. Shiro was standing almost over Ichigo defensively, facing 2 tough looking thugs. He looked much younger than when they were fighting, and Ichigo looked at himself, realizing _he _looked a lot younger too.

"C'mon, we just want to pound the little orange haired freak. We'll let your snowy hair get by without a scratch for now if you hand him over."

"Now why would I do that? Leaving you guys to beat up a guy who's sleeping? That's low. I may not like the guy, but I'm not that mean."

"He's not sleeping, look at him."

Shiro glanced back quickly, catching Ichigo's eye. He shifted over, allowing Ichigo to stand up. He rubbed his eyes, wiping away the sleep, and yawned. "So now, _why _are you guys trying to attack me while I'm sleeping? It's my first day here, not like I have anything for you to take."

"Newbie, eh? Heh. Gives me all the more reason to give you a pounding, to teach you who's boss around here."

Shiro was sneaking off to the side, and disappeared behind a tree. '_He's leaving me by myself with these goons? What a SWELL guy!'_

Suddenly the quiet thug dropped to the ground, and the leader jumped in surprise, only to collapse like his partner. Ichigo glanced behind where they had been standing in surprise. Shiro had hit a few pressure points on them, and they had fallen like a sack of rocks.

Ichigo rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Thanks for that. I thought you were gonna leave me to fend for myself with these idiots."

Shiro chuckled and shook his head. "Like you heard me telling the morons, I may be mean, but I'm not gonna do something that low. And it's not like I did it for you. I just want to have my first day be in peace, though considering the fact we're in this high of a district, a peaceful day is not likely."

Ichigo nodded and they stood in silence for a moment. "So Shiro….do you know what the heck we're supposed to do now?"

Shiro smirked. "I know as much as you do. Maybe we should just head towards civilization first."

"That makes sense."

Shiro turned around and started walking, Ichigo jogging to catch up to him. They were in a forest, but it looked like it was dying, and struggling to live again. They came across a larger path and turned down it, finally hearing voices. But they weren't happy voices. They were pained, as if they were constantly carrying a terrible burden, and would do anything to escape the tortures they were enduring.

Ichigo and Shiro heard a scream of pain and flinched.

"Oh don't even bother caring. This is district 78, everyone only cares for themselves. So if you idiots start trying to save everyone, you're just wasting your energy. "

Shiro sneered at the man who had stopped speaking. He was muscled, but dirty and had a beard. "Who said I cared? I just don't like screamin' that's all. It gives me a headache."

The bearded guy nodded, with a disbelieving look in his eye. "Right. I'm sure that's probably why you're looking concerned."

Shiro grumbled but continued into the town. There were stands lining the street, but it appeared people were constantly stealing. Down the street 3 guys were beating up on a 4th, and down the alley in front of them, there was a body on the ground, bleeding profusely.

The look-a-likes exchanged glances, but continued walking down the road.

_So this is how our lives are going to be from here on out…._

***********************************A few years later************************************

"Oi, Ichi, get up."

Ichigo groaned and mumbled, "5 minutes, Shiro, that's all I'm askin'."

Shiro glared at his friend and stuck out his tongue. "_Obviously _you don't remember what today is. Do you, Ichigo?"

"Today is…..Monday. The worst day of the week," he murmured, rolling over to face away from Shiro.

"Yes, but that's not what I meant. _Today _is our first day at the Soul Reaper Academy."

Ichigo instantly sat up, smacking his forehead against Shiro's nose. Both groaned and held their wounded faces.

"Did you really have to do that? That HURT."

"That's what you get for waking me up."

"Well we don't want to be late!"

"Fine, point taken."

Ichigo rolled out of the dorm bed, still unused to the luxuries of living at the Academy. It was much nicer than Inuzuri. You didn't have to steal for food, or defend against random attacks, or fight to protect yourself and your best friend.

Said best friend was busy changing into the uniform. "Hurry up, Aibou, or else we'll be late for breakfast! I'm starved!"

Ichigo simply chuckled and pulled on his uniform and followed his friend down the hall and down the stairs. Shiro, wanting to make a big entrance, burst through the cafeteria doors with a loud BOOM and the entire room went silent as Shiro strode with his head high to the breakfast line. Ichigo was snickering at Shiro's false noble impression.

Ichigo fake bowed and said, "Your breakfast awaits you, your illustriousness."

"Thank you, my slaving minion. You may have whatever I don't, but please, do not touch the fine china. Your hands are much too grubby," Shiro replied, with an air of fake importance about him, speaking like a snob with his nose turned up.

They erupted into laughter as the cafeteria continued to stare and got their food, choosing an empty table to sit down at. Slowly the conversations around them picked up again, but some still watched the pair scarf down their food. When they finished, they pulled out their schedules.

Ichigo examined his for a moment and set it flat on the table, taking Shiro's and putting it next to his own.

**Ichigo's schedule:**

**Monday thru Friday; **

**Saturday and Sunday-Free Days**

Role of the Soul Reaper (8:00-9:15)

Hoho (9:20-10:35)

Zanjutsu (10:40- 11:55)

Lunch (12:00-12:30)

Zanpakutou Communication (12:35-1:50)

Kido (1:55-3:10)

Reiatsu control (3:15-4:30)

Break (4:35-5:00)

Hakuda (5:05-6:20)

Assassination (6:25-7:40)

Dinner

**Shiro's Schedule:**

**Monday thru Friday; **

**Saturday and Sunday-Free Days**

Role of the Soul Reaper (8:00-9:15)

Hoho (9:20-10:35)

Zanjutsu (10:40- 11:55)

Lunch (12:00-12:30)

Zanpakutou communication (12:35-1:50)

Hakuda (1:55-3:10)

Kido (3:15-4:30)

Break (4:35-5:00)

Reiatsu Control (5:05-6:20)

Assassination (6:25-7:40)

Dinner

"Hmmm," mused Shiro. "It looks like we have 5 classes together, not including lunch, break, or dinner.

"Hey it looks like we have our optional classes together too!" "Oh you mean Zanpakutou Communication and Assassination? Yea, that's awesome, especially for assassination! That's gonna be tons of fun!" The two exchanged glances. Then they lifted their classes simultaneously. "Here's to a new start!" "And may it be a good one!"

They clinked glasses and finished off the juice inside.

'_Yes. Please let it be a good one…'_

* * *

**Darn this stupid computer! I think it's REALLY starting to hate on me. I tried to put Ichigo's and Shiro's schedule next to each other so it'd be easier to compare them, but FF is being stupid and not letting me. Argh.**

**Well, I hope this was up to everyone's standards. I'm excited for the next chapter so I can write out the classes, and Assassination is one i'm REALLY looking forward to writing :D **

**I'll probably be updating again within the next few days, unless I have to babysit -.-**

**So, until next time!**

**d(^_^)z**


	3. Discovery of the Deaths

**Well everybody, I'm back again with a new chapter! I think this is the fastest I've ever written a story. Normally I lose interest after the 2nd or 3rd chapter, but I'm still going! YAY! :) Oh and I decided to put the first day of school off, so this chapter is when Rukia finds out Ichigo dies. **

**Cookies to everyone who reviews! They're M&M! I was going to wait until I got more reviews before I posted this, but then I'd torturing some people XD**

**So, just an FYI, I'll be skipping back and forth between using "Lieutenant" and "Fukutaichou", and "Taichou" and "Captain". I hope no one gets confused :/**

**Ag-ro-tag: ****Perhaps your impatience is what made me put this up faster XD So it's not really a bad thing! Yayyyy Cookie! *om nom nom*. You always ask questions that come up in the next chapter XD I feel like I should make you wait for the answers...nahhhh that'd be mean. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. T-T I wish I did...**

**Enough of my rambling! Onto the next chapter! **

**Enjoy! **

**\m/(.)\m/**

Separated; Chapter 3- Discovery of the deaths

"Fukutaichou! Fukutaichou!"

Rukia spun to see the 3rd seat of squad 13 rushing toward her. He was panting, but his eyes were bright with the information he was about to relay.

"Kotsubaki. What is it?"

"Fukutaichou, it's-it's the S-substitute Soul Reaper," he panted. Kotsubaki paused, catching his breath.

"Ichigo? What's going on? Spit it out!"

Kotsubaki flinched from the fierce look in her eyes, and rushed to tell her that Ichigo died.

Rukia flinched at the news. "He's…..dead? When?"

"A few years ago, but no one took any notice."

"No one noticed? How do they NOT notice that one of the most powerful Soul Reapers has DIED?"

Kotsubaki stepped back. "I don't know, I'm simply relaying information as I hear it."

"Where did you hear it from?"

"I-I heard it from 2 Captains! I was walking by and I heard them talking about it!"

"So you eavesdropped?"

"No! They were talking loud enough for anyone to hear it!" Kotsubaki looked flustered and sounded defensive.

"Well, what else do you know?"

"He was living in Inuzuri, and now he is at the Soul Reaper Academy. It appears he does not remember who he was during his human life. The Academy is working to keep it a secret as well. They want him to learn by their standards, instead of returning to the 'Disrespectful brat that he was.' ''

Rukia fumed at not being told this, but sighed. "Thank you, Kotsubaki. You may return to your duties."

"Yes, Fukutaichou." He spun around and walked quickly down the hall to avoid her wrath, and the punishment that could have come from him eavesdropping.

Rukia turned in the direction of her Captain's office. She knocked quietly, affirming her identity and walked quickly inside. Ukitake was sitting at his desk filling out paperwork and lifted his gaze to look at her sadly. "So you heard?"

"You knew? Why didn't you tell me Ukitake Taichou?"

"Because I knew you would react badly, and do something rash. You _did _just lose the one you loved."

Rukia blushed, and stuttered, "N-no I d-didn't love him. He had a wife and a daughter, we were just good friends."

Ukitake watched her skeptically but continued, "I've already planned a trip to the academy so you can see him, and this is a good time to go look for anyone who has potential. We're going in 2 weeks. Do you know anyone who would want to go with you?"

Rukia considered this for a moment and then she snapped her fingers. "Renji would probably want to come with us too."

"Isn't that Abarai Taichou to you?"

Rukia spun at the sound of the new voice. Renji was standing at the door, looking amused. His white haori fluttered around him as he walked towards Ukitake.

"Forgive me, Jushiro, for intruding. I heard Rukia a few moments ago, screaming about Ichigo's death, so I thought I could come help calm her."

Ukitake simply chuckled. "You know you're welcome around here, Renji. As for Rukia, she is calming down. As for her suggestion, would you like to come with us to the Academy?"

Renji mused for a moment then broke into a smile. "Of course! I've been meaning to set up a time to go look for recruits, but I haven't gotten around to it. You saved me a few hours of paperwork!"

Ukitake smiled at Renji's upbeat attitude. "You're quite welcome!"

Renji slithered over to Rukia and patted the top of her head. "Looks like you're stuck with me again for a while, until we work out the details of this trip!"

Rukia jerked her head out from under Renji's hand. "You're lucky you're a captain, or else I'd slap you to the other side of Rukongai." She stuck out her tongue and turned back to her captain.

"Is there anything you need me to do, taichou?"

Ukitake wearily rubbed his eyes. "Some help with this paperwork would be nice. I'm not feeling 100%, so I might retire to bed a bit early."

Rukia frowned. "Would you like me to get Captain Unohana?" "No, that's unnecessary. She already has to take care of the guys from Squad 11 24/7 (**A/N: WOAH THAT RHYMED! :D)** and I'm just fine."

"If you're sure…."

Renji spoke up, breaking off their conversation. "I'll take my leave now. Rest up, Jushiro, and take it easy. You deserve it."

He shun-poed off, and Rukia took the seat on the other side of her Captain's desk to work on getting rid of all the paperwork.

They worked in silence for a while, before Rukia spoke up. "Captain, how long have you known about…."

Ukitake knew what she meant and simply replied, "Since the day it happened. Or night I should say. He was driving to Karakura to visit someone, and he got hit by an 18-wheeler. He died instantly."

"Oh…..why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Actually, all the captains know. We didn't tell because it would cause a panic. Ichigo IS one of the strongest soul reapers I've ever met. Finding out he was dead would definitely cause quite a bit of chaos. We are planning to make him part of the court guard squads as soon as he's regained quite a few of his powers which, because he was a soul reaper in his past life, shouldn't take long. And we've discovered another interesting fact about Kurosaki."

Rukia glanced up from the paperwork she was working on, curious.

Ukitake's eyes glinted with humor, and…was that worry? "We've found out that Kurosaki has a twin."

Rukia jerked up from her seat, staring at her captain, her mouth an 'O'.

She continued to stare incredulously at Ukitake, until he watched her amusedly and remarked, "I thought you would've been more curious about his twin. But I guess not. I should be going to bed anyway." He stood, stretching, while Rukia broke out of her stupor.

"Captain, you can't tell me something like that and just leave!"

Ukitake smirked softly, and said, "I just did," before shun-poing out of the room before Rukia could reply.

Rukia grit her teeth and took her anger and used it as energy to finish off the paperwork. Then she stomped to her room. "How could he have done that? Telling me '_Kurosaki has a twin'_ and then leaving? How dare he!" She fumed all the way to her room, where she stopped and looked around at the pictures decorating the boring wood walls.

There were some of her and Ichigo, hanging out like they used to, before Rukia became a lieutenant. She had some taken with Orihime, Chad and Ishida, and even some with Ichigo's family. There was one that happened during a mission to the real world, after she became a lieutenant, and she stopped by to see Ichigo. When she arrived, he called over all their friends, and had a big get-together. At this point in time, Ichigo was married, and his wife was pregnant with their daughter.

_-Flashback-_

_Rukia slipped through the dark streets of Karakura. She had been sent here to assist Ichigo in defeating a powerful hollow that continued to show up and eat the souls of its poor victims. She glided over to his front door, and rang the bell of his new apartment. It was just before dinnertime, so she wasn't worried about waking anybody up. _

_The door swung open and there stood Ichigo. It had been 2 human years since she had seen him so she glomped him. He stumbled, trying to hold both of them up. When Rukia had finished squeezing the breath out of him, she leaped off him. She was just so happy to see her old friend! _

_"H-Hey to you too , Rukia!"_

_When Ichigo caught his breath, he gestured to the chair. Rukia happily, and gracefully, jumped onto the plushy chair, sitting with her feet underneath her. She watched Ichigo leave the room and return with 2 cans of coke, handing one to Rukia. _

_She popped the tab and sipped it, nearly choking. "I always forget about the stupid bubbles in these things!"_

_Ichigo simply chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "So Rukia, how have you been?"_

_Rukia smiled. "I've been pretty good. I got promoted to lieutenant, and I'm REALLY enjoying it!" _

_Ichigo nodded his head and smiled. He had been around 21 at the time, and in medical school. _

"_So did Soul Society send you?"_

"_Yes, to help out with that hollow. His name is 'Claws'. He peers into the thoughts of his victims and transforms into what they want most. Then he devours their soul."_

"_Oh, so did they name him like that American person who's the gift bringer of Christmas, Santa Claus?"_

"_Yep. I like the play on words personally. But I don't enjoy the fact that they give it to a very powerful, evil, hollow."_

_Ichigo nodded, consumed by his own thoughts. He had been hunting this hollow for weeks, but it always seemed to elude his grasp. It would slip away just before he arrived, leaving behind a bleeding body. _

"_Ichigo? Who's this?" _

_Ichigo broke from his troubled thoughts and beamed up at his wife, who was looking at the back of Rukia's head. Rukia spun at the smile directed behind her, and a woman stood there. But it wasn't just anyone, it was Tatsuki! _

_Rukia gaped at Tatsuki. She still had her black tomboy haircut, and she looked much older than when Ichigo first became a soul reaper. But the biggest difference was her stomach. It was bulging out, and Tatsuki had a hand sitting comfortably on it. _

"_Oh hey Rukia!"_

"_H-Hi Tatsuki," stammered Rukia as she stared at her stomach. _

_Tatsuki simply chuckled and walked around the chair to sit comfortably next to Ichigo, who put his arm behind her head. _

_Rukia's mouth was an 'O' once again. "What, are you a fish or are you just catching flies," joked Ichigo. _

_Her mouth snapped shut, her teeth clamping together, and she blushed furiously. _

_Ichigo exchanged a glance with Tatsuki. _

''_I guess me and Tatsuki got together after you left last time. We've been married for nearly a year, believe it or not. And now, obviously, she's pregnant." Ichigo's eyes lit up at the thought of having a child. He was so excited. "She's at 5 months." He nuzzled Tatsuki's neck. Tatsuki just shook her head in faux exasperation. _

"_Well congratulations you guys! When is your due date?" "July 28__th__!" _

"_Do you know the gender?"_

"_Uh huh! It's a girl," Tatsuki stroked her stomach lovingly. _

_Ichigo spoke up, "How long are you gonna be here in Karakura, Rukia?" _

"_Until we get rid of that hollow."_

_Ichigo nodded and smiled, something he'd been doing a lot lately. "I think I'll call up the gang and order some pizza for us all. Have ya eaten yet?"_

_Rukia shook her head and Ichigo walked out of the room. _

_Tatsuki stood up. "I suppose I should tidy up again." _

"_Would you like some help?"_

"_That'd be great!" _

_They tidied up the living room and dining room in silence. They moved on to wash the dishes in the kitchen. _

"_So Tatsuki, how long have you been able to see spirits?"_

"_Around the time of the Winter War. And don't worry, I know all about Soul Society, and Soul Reapers, and hollows, etc, etc. I think it's pretty cool, to tell the truth."_

"_I'm guessing Ichigo told you all about it?"_

"_Yea. During the Winter War, all I knew was what Soul Reapers were. Not much knowledge at all. But when Ichigo and I started dating, he told me about it. What's it like in Soul Society?"_

"_Depends where you are. In Rukongai, there are 80 districts, for people who have died. The higher the number of the district, the worse it is. I lived in the 78__th__ district. My friends all died, besides Renji, and then Renji and I decided to go the Soul Reaper Academy to get out of that hell hole._

"_Then the Seireitei, where the soul reapers live, is huge. The houses and buildings are arranged in almost a labyrinth-type set up, making it confusing for any intruders, like Ichigo so long ago. The Seireitei is quite nice. As long as you listen to the Captains and obey orders, life is great."_

"_How bad was-" A ring at the door interrupted Tatsuki. She set down the dish cloth. "I'll get it." Rukia finished the dishes, only to hear voices coming from the living room. It was Chad and Orihime at the door. _

_Ichigo was greeting them and Tatsuki was chatting with Orihime. Rukia poked her head around the corner, and was instantly spotted by Orihime, who ran up and choked her in a hug. _

"_Rukia! I've missed you so much! How are you? Is everyone in the Soul Society okay? What are you doing here? Are you here to get rid of crazy mutant hollows that are bent on taking over the world? Or are you here to kill a soul who has mutated into a crazy cat-dog thing with powers to electrocute everyone it sees, or-" _

"_It's great to see you too Orihime! I see you haven't changed a single bit!"_

"_No, but my appetite has! Tatsuki is proud of me cause I cook 'normal' food now. I don't like it as much as my other stuff, but that's ok! A lot of people come over to my house to eat dinner now, unlike how it used to be…"_

_Rukia flinched at the thought of Orihime's weird old food fetish. Bread and Red Bean Paste jam? Ick. _

_Chad grunted a hello, and Rukia smiled at the gentle giant. "How are you, Chad?" "Pretty good. I'm in college, but I'm working as a police officer on the side."_

"_That's probably a great job for you, Chad."_

"_It's nice to protect people."_

_There was another ring at the door, and Uryuu stepped in. _

"_Rukia! It's great to see you! How've you been," questioned Uryuu, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. _

"_I've been pretty good! I've been promoted to lieutenant!" _

"_Well congratulations to you."_

_After they all exchanged hellos, they dived into the pizza. As Rukia ranted on about how she had forgotten how good the real world's food was, she saw Ichigo hug Tatsuki tightly, a smile, once again, lighting up his face._

'_Hm. It seems Tatsuki managed to get him to open up. He hasn't smiled this much since before his mother died, according to her. Well I'm glad. Ichigo with a smile on his face is much more beautiful than a scowl.'_

_After a movie and some joking, everyone had to leave. Ichigo and Tatsuki offered to let her stay at their apartment, since it had an extra bedroom. Rukia happily accepted, and as she was falling asleep that night, she couldn't help but think, 'It looks like Ichigo's life is starting to look up...'_

_~End Flashback~_

Rukia curled up under the blankets. They never did catch that hollow. It always escaped right before they got there. After a month, Soul Society declared it pointless and brought her back. They hadn't heard so much as a whisper from that hollow since.

With these thoughts in her head, and the excitement to see Ichigo again, Rukia shut her eyes, and slowly fell asleep.

* * *

**Ichigo's wife has been revealed! I was originally gonna put her as Orihime, but my dislike for her wouldn't let me. And I always thought Tatsuki and Ichigo would be a cute couple :)**

**And I bet you guys expected Rukia to blow up all of Seireitei after finding out about Ichigo's death..Nope! She has to behave now that she's a lieutenant!**

**The next chapter is going to be Ichi and Shiro's first day of school, which I'm still looking forward to writing! But I have to babysit tomorrow and the day after so I probably won't put it out until Friday. Or Thursday, depending on if the kids behave and let me write while they hang out :D**

**So did anyone spot the foreshadowing in this chapter? I'll give you a hint. It's towards the end. And it seems pretty obvious to me, but hey, that's cause I know what's gonna happen...**

**I'm sorry for any OOCness in this chapter, it was purposeful for Ichigo, but I think I totally screwed up Tatsuki. Oh well. It had to happen!**

**Until next time!**


	4. The Joys of School, Part 1

**I am sorry beyond belief at how late I am posting this. I had to babysit Wednesday, Thursday, and I thought I had Friday to myself, but I got called at 10 in the morning to babysit...again. Then my sister and I decided to make a cake since it's my parents' anniversary today and we didn't finish til like 3 in the morning, and yesterday we went to this barbecue...which was really weird. Watching screaming little kids run around and drunk adults doing basically the same thing is kinda weird...so there's my excuse for having this up so late. Please forgive meh!**

**So...review replies!**

**IchiHichi1200: Thanks, and I'm doing my best to! ^_^**

**Anonymous: You'll find that out later in the story. I wasn't sure a while ago, but I had this crazy flash of an idea as for how to make it work last night, and now I can't wait to write it!**

**Ag-ro-tag: Haha it definitely reminds me to update, cause I feel bad for makin ya wait! Im actually listening to a song called Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie XD Oh, coincedences...Tomfoolery? XD Hehe I've got EVERYTHING planned out :D I do hope you enjoy my somewhat crazy storyline!**

**LynnieDerPooh: I'm still surprised you actually read the story, since you know nothing about bleach XD I applaud you on that, my friend. And you're just a heartless child hating person, so I'm SURE there is someone that was touched by that chapter! ^_^**

**uzamaki9999: Already planned out :) I decided to give Shiro his own Zanpakutou just a few hours before you reviewed. Then I spent a LONG time trying to figure out a good name, description, bankai, etc. Ugh. XD**

**Disclaimer: We all know this, but I guess I have to repeat it again. I do not own bleach. and I honestly couldn't care less if you decided to use my teacher characters in your own fic, as long as you say you got the idea from moi. **

**On with the story!**

* * *

**Separated; Chapter 4-The joys of school, part 1**

_Shiro's POV_

Ichigo and I were sprinting down the halls, frantically looking left and right.

"Where is it, Where is it, where is it, WHERE IS IT?" While Ichigo was busy screaming at no one, I double checked our map, making sure to look up so I wouldn't run into anyone. I compared the map to the room next to us and groaned.

"Ichi, we've got a problem. We passed it. AND it's on the other side of campus." Ichigo froze and glared at me.

"WHAT? WHY DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN? YOU WERE THE ONE WHO HAD THE MAP!"

I raised my arms defensively, swinging a 360 and rushing in the other direction. "We've got a minute, Ich, we can't stand around arguing!" Ichigo groaned and sprinted after me. We were nearly there when we heard a loud GONG!

"SHIT! WE'RE ALMOST THERE! C'mon!" I pushed myself harder, skidding to a halt in front of the classroom and we slipped inside. The entire class was staring at us, and I, embarrassed, raised an arm to rub the back of my neck. "Uh…hey?"

''If you two are done interrupting the entire school, please find a place to sit," instructed a man close to the front. He was average height, maybe a little shorter than me, and was a bit thicker than I was. He looked older, but not old. He had a stern face, with bright green eyes that sparkled intelligently.

Ichigo and I complied, drifting up the staircase and got seats next to each other near the middle. (**A/N: Think a college lecture hall, or movie theater + desks). **

"Welcome students, to Role of the Soul Reaper. My name is Katashi Hamasaki. In this class, you will be learning some history of the soul society, but mostly laws, what your duty as a Soul Reaper is, and about the different groups, such as the Stealth Force, the 13 Court Guard Squads, and the Kido Corps…"

'_This guy is boring. He has a demanding voice but it's so…..monotonous….I want to go to sleep..'_

I glanced at Ichigo. He looked attentive and alert, but his eyes were glazed. I chuckled inwardly. I wasn't quite sure how he got this skill, but he was quite good at it.

My mind started to drift as the teacher droned on and on and on, something that is expected on a first day of school. But tomorrow, they'd have to pay attention. We _are_ in the advanced class, after all.

I felt someone tap my leg. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see Ichigo's hand open, as if giving me a handshake. But I knew what he wanted to do. He was just as bored as I was. I was _definitely _accepting this challenge. I gripped his hand, and we started up a thumb war.

Our thumbs went left and right a few times, while in our heads we silently said "1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a thumb war. 5, 6, 7, 8, try to keep your thumb straight." Our thumbs went immediately straight, but I had the advantage because my thumb is longer. It was difficult since we couldn't stare at our hands, but eventually I won. Ichigo cursed quietly and withdrew his hand. I snickered at his childish reaction.

I reached into my desk and pulled out a piece of paper and an ink brush (the academy provided them) and made a tic tac toe board. I instantly put my X in the middle and he put an O on the bottom right corner. Then I put my X in the top right corner, followed by him putting O in the bottom left, pushing me to put X in the middle at the bottom, making him put an O at the top middle spot. I decided to put my next X in the middle row, on the right, and Ichigo put his O in the same row on the left. I put my X on the top left, making it a tie. We groaned. This was always how our tic tac toe games ended. Neither of us has ever won, we always, ALWAYS tie.

I put my index finger to my chin, deciding what game we should play next. Ichigo already had an idea by the looks of it, since he just stole my paper. He drew a few lines, and I smirked. Hangman it seems. He lined the letters of his word. 10 letters. Hmm….I took the brush and wrote A at the top. He sighed, and on the second and fifth letter wrote an A. He handed the brush back over, and I thought for a moment and scribbled I. He drew a head on the noose. I wrote down N, which apparently was the 3rd letter. It didn't have an M. I wrote O, earning myself a letter in the ninth spot. So now it said _AN_A_ _ _O_. I wrote T, which was in the eighth spot.

At this point I was stumped, running out of my favorite letters, so I said R, which it didn't have. My guy had a head, body and arm. Only an arm and 2 legs and I'm through. I wrote U and there were 2, in the 7th and 10th spot. Now it looked like _AN_A_U_TOU.

I smirked as soon as I figured it out. I scribbled down the answer and apparently it was right, because Ichigo flicked my forehead. The answer was Zanpakutou.

Ironically, it was written on a wall right to the left of me, so I wondered HOW I didn't figure it out sooner.

A loud GONG jerked me out of my thoughts, and I scrambled to catch up to Ichigo who was running to get out as the class was dismissed.

He darted out of my sight and as I stepped out the doors of the classroom, I was tackled. I flipped so my attacker was under me, and I instinctively pinned his arms and legs down. Ichigo was underneath me, watching me, smirking.

"Wha' the hell's your problem, Ichi? Why'd ya go an' tackle me like that? And now we're in the way of everyone! I'm gonna get stepped on!" I stood, pulling Ichigo with me, who was still smirking.

"I'm glad you still have good reflexes, Shiro! Now what's our next class? I don't wanna be late again."

I pulled out my schedule, the ones that I had with Ichigo were circled. "Um….Hoho. This outta be interesting.."

Ichigo nodded in agreement. "But moving so fast that, for some, your own eyes can't follow it? That's amazing!"

Suddenly, Ichigo collapsed onto his knees. I darted in front of him, to look into his eyes. They were dilated, and terror shimmered in them. He was clutching his chest.

"Ichigo? Ichigo!" I slapped him, successfully pulling him out of his trance, or whatever that was.

"What was that about,'' I questioned pulling him to his feet. His eyebrows were scrunched together, and he shrugged, frustrated. "I have no idea. I can tell you what I saw though." I nudged him, urging him to continue.

"Well, I was on a sidewalk at night, and I was in a Soul Reaper uniform. Like, the official uniform. And I was holding this HUGE sword, almost bigger than I was! In front of me was a man, only a little taller than me. His hair was black, and his face was completely expressionless. But I guess I was fighting another guy, whose hair was red and pulled back in a ponytail, but spiked upwards. He had tattoos all over his face and he had a sword that could extend and cut me really deep. I got the upper hand in the fight, but when I was about to win, my sword disappeared, and I realized the black haired guy had taken it. Then he blurred and disappeared and next thing I knew, I was being stabbed through the chest. I was left to die, but I could still move. I grabbed his foot to tell him that he shouldn't talk about me like I'm not there when my hand was kicked away by this midget black haired girl, who told me not to touch her 'brother.' And then next thing I know, I was staring at you."

I couldn't help but just stare at him in shock. What he just told me was so weird and unreal. "I wonder what it means," I whispered. "But are you feeling ok? Do I need to take you to the nurse?"

"Nah, I'm alright now, let's just get to class."

"At least this one isn't far. Take a left here. No, Ichigo, _other _left. There we go. Right through this door. Annnnnnd we're here!"

We stepped into another classroom, which didn't have desks; it simply had bleachers and a large open space in the middle of all the bleachers. There was a woman standing in the middle of the space, assumedly she was our teacher. She had a lithe body, and looked kind of petite, but I figured she was probably pretty strong.

Her hair was black, and pulled into a pony tail, and she had chocolate brown eyes, almost exactly like Ichigo's. Ichigo was spacing out again, so I dragged him over to the bleachers, going a few rows up before finally sitting down. I snapped in front of his face.

"Ichigoooo…..Ichigo…..Are you alive in there?"

He leaned forward quickly and nipped my hand. I instantly pulled it back.

"Hey what was that for? You were zonin' out again, so I was tryin to help you out!"

"Well don't snap in front of my face, of course I'm gonna hurt ya if you do something like that!"

I grumbled, but didn't answer, because the GONG sound went off again and the woman started speaking.

"Good morning students."

She paused, standing still, watching us expectantly. When no one even twitched under her gaze, her eyes narrowed.

"When someone says, 'Good Morning Students', you are _supposed _to respond and say, 'Good Morning Sensei'!"

The class quickly answered her saying, "Sorry Sensei, Good morning!"

"Very good. Now, my name is Kohaku Hayashi, you can just call me Sensei. If you do anything stupid or unjustifiable, then you will be punished. If you don't pay attention to me when I'm speaking, we WILL have a problem. But if you listen to me, and do what I tell you without mouthing off, then I'm sure we'll get along fine. Instead of giving you a long lecture like Hamasaki does, I'm just going to explain what you have to do to be able to achieve Hoho, or flash steps and then I'm going to give you a few tips on how to do it, then maybe we can start working on it if we have time today. So behave or else you won't get to try it!"

The class just stared at her, shocked. She was nothing like Hamasaki. She was kind of scary…..

I loved her personality, but that's just my opinion. Ichigo and I were grinning like fools, thankful to have at least one cool teacher.

'_Maybe this year will be pretty awesome.'_

Sensei ran through an explanation of Hoho, gave her tips, and when she was done with that, we still had 45 minutes left in class. She told us all to come down to the floor, and I grabbed Ichigo's hand and ran down the bleacher stairs with him in tow. We all got in a big circle around our teacher, and she told us to get in a line along the wall.

After we had achieved this, she pointed to the first person in line, and told them to run as fast as they could across the gym in the least amount of steps. Everyone tried, but no one in the class could achieve shunpo, but we hadn't been expected to. The GONG went off again and Ichigo and I trudged out of the classroom, angry we didn't get it right. I shook off the feeling, and brightened, remembering what our next class was.

"Hey IIIIchigoooo…"

Ichigo snapped his head toward me, glaring. "What?"

"Guess what we have neeext," I said in a sing-songy voice.

"Why should I guess? You're just gonna end up telling me anyway."

I pouted, sad that he ruined my fun. "Come onnnnnn….Why are you all depressed? You should be happy and jumping around!" I started jumping up and down to emphasize my point. I felt oddly hyper for some reason. Maybe I was just so happy to be here. After all that time in Inuzuri, this is was like a breath of fresh air, a splash of cold water on my face.

'_Wait, why the hell am I going all sentimental?'_

Ichigo snorted at me, but joined me in hopping down the hall. I started laughing as we made our way to our next class, Zanjutsu, hopping like 2 bunnies. I cracked up at everyone's stares, and eventually it was too much. I stopped hopping and bent in 2, laughing so hard my ribs hurt. Ichigo was simply observing amusedly.

He grabbed my arm. "Come on; let's get to our next class."

An idea flickered through my thoughts, and I snickered. I took a running start and leapt on his back. "PIGGYBACK RIDE!" I screeched in his ear, and he flinched.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled. And started running with me on his back. I couldn't help but laugh again. I just felt so…._free_. As we approached the classroom, I hopped off his back and walked alongside him. This classroom looked exactly the same as the last, except there was a large cabinet on one wall, probably holding wooden swords for us to work with.

I stepped into the classroom, but couldn't see anybody that could possibly be our teacher. I shrugged it off, simply pulling Ichigo with me to a seat. We were earlier to this class than the last ones, so I watched the other students pile in. I initiated another thumb war with Ichigo and I shut my eyes to try and give him a handicap, but he lost…again. "My dear friend, thumb wars with you are rather dull. It's a curse that I always win everything."

I placed a hand over my heart, as though it actually did hurt me. Ichigo simply stuck his tongue out at me and I pinched it for revenged. Then he retaliated by poking my ribs and I giggled. Wait….I giggled?

'_Oh Ichigo, you are SO getting your ass handed to you for that.'_

That GONG sound went off again and I scowled. That was getting hella annoying really quick. The class sat around awkwardly, mumbling to the person next to them. Then the door burst open and a tall buff man walked in.

He was pretty handsome. I'm not gay, but I'll admit that. I saw quite a few girls and even a few guys ogling at him, though he was completely oblivious to it. He had short brown hair and a strand was curled up in the middle of his forehead, and he had extremely light blue eyes.

He looked around at the assembled students before his eyes landed on me. I stared back, curious as to why he was watching me that way. It was intense, but there was something else in his gaze that worried me, but I couldn't identify what it was. Ichigo obviously recognized it, because he growled low in his throat and gritted his teeth. I was about to ask him what was wrong when the teacher finally spoke.

"Hey. Albino."

I whipped my head around to glare at him for referring to me as _'albino'_. Ichigo grabbed my hand and squeezed it, because he knew I react badly when people referred to me like that.

"What?" I ground out.

"Come down here. I want to see if you can wield a sword. You have the right…_body_ type. Oh, and bring your orange friend."

Now it was me keeping Ichigo from doing something rash. As soon as I was completely sure he wasn't going to go for the man's throat, I released his hand and we warily stood up and walked down the stairs to the main floor.

"Names?" He questioned, quirking his eyebrow.

"I'm Haku Tsukino. But you can call me Shiro. And this is Ichigo Kurosaki."

The man's eyes widened in shock at Ichigo's name, but he quickly covered up the surprise.

'_What the hell was that about?'_

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Sora Matsushita. Now go over to the cabinet over there and grab a wooden sword for yourselves."

We obeyed his instructions, grabbing the katanas and facing him. He was holding his own wooden sword, and it hung limply by his side.

"Now Shiro, nice nickname by the way," I growled in response to his mocking, "face me and try to knock this sword out of my hands. Ok?"

I nodded still glaring in his direction. He made the first move, darting to my left and I quickly dodged out of the way, jabbing him in the ribs as he went by. He spun to face me, and sprang towards me. I blocked the wooden asauchi with mine and pushed him off and away from me.

I leaped toward him, moving to hit him with my sword, hoping he'd block, which he did. I kicked him in the side while he was open, which made him stumble backwards. He looked kind of pissed, but that something from earlier still glinted in his eyes. And, like before, it set Ichigo off. He jumped in front of me and started fighting the teacher. I backed up, wondering what had gotten into my best friend. I caught a glimpse of his face as he spun to fight.

He looked furious, a little over-protective (like always) and was that..jealousy? _'No, I must be imagining things.'_

Ichigo and Sora were fighting hard, and I could tell Ichigo was doing extremely well. For a moment he blurred in my vision, which surprised me. _'Did he just use flash step?'_

I continued to gape in my best friend's direction, since I couldn't really see him well enough to gape at _him_. Then I heard a clatter. My head snapped towards Sora, who was staring at his hands incredulously. I turned my head to see his katana near me. Ichigo was standing in one place, watching Sora's reaction.

"Very good Ichigo. I knew you had a knack for sword fighting!"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "And how would you know that?"

Sora ignored him and turned to the class. "There is a demonstration of what you will be learning this year. With practice, you may all be able to knock that-" He pointed towards the fake katana "-out of my hands."

That damn GONG went off again and the class stood to go to lunch. I went over to Ichigo, who was sweating from the exertion. I clapped him on the back.

"Good job Ichigo! That was amazing! Did you realize you were using flash step?"

Ichigo smiled wearily at me and moved to go put the katana up. I noticed it was just us with Sora in the room, and I still felt wary towards our sword-fighting teacher. He sauntered up to me, a grin on his face.

"Good job Shiro! I'm sure if Ichigo hadn't stepped in, you would have been able to knock the wooden sword out of my hands too." He gripped my wrists and leaned forward. I strained backwards, trying to get away from the strange man. He had that look in his eye again.

"You will be an _amazing _fighter, I assure you." Then he closed the space between us and kissed me. I tried to pull back but he wouldn't let me. I struggled but it had no effect on him. Then he was gone, and Ichigo was standing, concerned, in front of me.

''Are you alright? Damn bastard. The one second I turn away.."

He spun to glare at our teacher and moved to stand next to him. He was on the ground, holding his jaw, where, apparently, Ichigo socked him.

"Stay the hell away from Shiro. Cause if you don't, it _will _be the end of you."

Ichigo grabbed my hand to pull me out of the classroom, and naturally I complied.

"That was hell. Maybe this year won't be as good as I hoped."

Ichigo craned his neck to look at me, and lead me over to a wall in the hallway. He leaned against it tiredly, and simply watched me. He sighed. "Listen, I want you to stick with me as much as you can. I don't want that idiot to hurt you. Ok?" I nodded. I could take care of myself, but I froze up just a few minutes ago, and if I did that again, who knows what would happen.

We walked silently down to lunch. "Thanks Ichigo."

He looked at my confusedly. "What for?"

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. "For being such a great friend."

Ichigo smiled softly and hugged me back. He released me and we went down to lunch. The students that had been in our last class were staring at Ichigo but he paid no mind. We grabbed our food and sat down at a table. Ichigo laid his head down on my shoulder, exhausted from the exertion of doing flash step and fighting a teacher. I patted his orange hair while he slowly fell asleep. And while my best friend was at my side, I could honestly think that everything was going to be just fine.

Which, of course, always happens, right?

* * *

**Well there ya go. I know I promised the entire school day, but by the time I finished this, it was 8 pages. So I decided to split it in half. No guarantees on the next update cause I have to babysit all week. Ugh. AND school starts in 15 days. Joy. And as to why the classes seemed so short, I was too lazy to actually type it out to seem longer, so Im just gonna say that the first day is shorter than the others. **

**Oh, and here's a question. Answer in a review or even a PM, but PLEASE answer. I want to please my readers. **

**Do you want this to be a yaoi, or just leave it as no yaoi? **

**It wouldn't change my storyline too much either way, but I want to know what you guys want. **

**Well, til next time everyone!**


	5. Lunch's Blast from the Past

**Well I'm back. It's been a long week, but I'm not gonna bother explaining. I'm sure you guys are sick of my long rambly AN's. I haven't made the decision on whether it will be yaoi yet, because I'm still thinking of an idea to get them together, without getting too cliche. But that's not very likely XD Everything's cliche now! So that gives you guys another chapter or 2 to vote on it!**

**Review Replies:**

**Sasuke Uzamaki9999: I'm glad you like it! -adds another tally to yaoi votes-**

**whitespiderlilly: -adds another tally- **

**TeenageNeko: I love your name! :) That was random, but I just had to say it! Oh you'll find out about that soon enough :D I'm very proud of my explanation, to tell the truth. I'll be sure to write extra well on their visit! ^_^ **

**Disclaimer: Why must I still do this? -sigh- I do not own Bleach. T-T It's torture admitting that...**

**I didn't get many reviews last chapter, so I'm ****hoping this one gets more! Though, I do appreciate the reviews that I did get! Thanks guys :) Now, on to the new chapter!**

* * *

**Separated; Chapter 5- Lunch's Blast from the Past**

After about 5 minutes, Ichigo yawned and sat up to finish off his lunch. I patiently waited for him to finish, then throwing away our trash; we trekked down to a big oak tree outside.

I leaned my head back against the bark and basked in the sun, letting the wind blow through my snow white hair. Ichigo was leaning against my left side again, and I couldn't help but feel at peace.

My mood was completely ruined when the scene from our last period flashed behind my closed eyelids. I shifted uneasily and Ichigo turned his head towards me, his chin resting on my shoulder. His gaze told me he was concerned and tired….very very tired.

"What's wrong," he murmured.

I shook my head and he just sighed.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. You can tell me whenever you feel comfortable about it."

He readjusted to lie on my lap to sleep for the rest of lunch. I stroked his orange hair, and he leaned into the touch, mumbling incoherently as he drifted into unconsciousness. I smiled gently down at his sleeping form.

His face was towards me; the scowl was completely gone, and he seemed to be smiling. I guess he's having a good dream. He deserves it, after what we've been through in the past few years. I'm so thankful we finally got out of that hellhole.

The first few months after we first got there were the worst. I didn't realize the extent of how bad it was until Ichigo and I became friends and helped keep each company, and keep the other alive.

He truly is, and always will be, my best friend.

_**-Flashback-**_

_I pushed myself farther against the alley wall. _

'_Damn dead ends.' _

_I frantically searched for an opening so I could run and get the hell away from here. _

_I had 4 options, that being one of them. _

_The 2__nd__ was fight, and probably lose. _

_Number 3 was to beg for mercy only to be mocked and killed slowly and painfully. _

_4 was hope with all my heart for someone to rescue me. But that wasn't likely. _

_I had no friends, no one I could call for help to, no one to depend on, or who would have my back. _

_A hiss erupted from my chapped lips as my broken arm collided with the brick of the alley's wall. I was exhausted, because I didn't get any sleep from the pain of my arm, and the lack of rest was catching up to me. My eyelids threatened to close, my good arm slowly dropping from its defensive position. _

"_Well whatta great day this 's! The mighty Haku is fin'lly gonna fall! We're gonna pummel ya inta the ground fer what ya've done t' us fer so long."_

_The leader of the gang mocked me, the other guys just laughing and egging him on. I growled at them, only to make them laugh harder. _

_They knew it was hopeless for me to fight, as did I. I could only hope to die quickly. But I was going to give them one hell of a fight before I left this world, that was a guarantee. _

_The leader was directly in front of me, with 2 of his goons on each side to make a half moon like shape to trap me against the wall._

'_No openings. Damn it all!'_

_I'd kicked these guys' asses before, so they probably had a major grudge, so I knew they wouldn't lose interest if I played dead. They'd kick around my 'corpse' just for fun._

_The leader twitched forward and my eyes darted up to look at him. His eyes shined like stars, triumph glittering maliciously. _

'_Dammit, Dammit, Dammit.'_

_His hand began slowly curling into a fist, and the anticipation from the prolonged amount of time it took him to do it killed me. His arm flew back quickly and then forward again, catching me off guard. It landed right under my ribs, around my stomach. I bit back a cry and coughed up a little blood. It left a salty copper taste on my tongue._

'_Dammit, Dammit, Dammit.'_

_My good hand clenched for a counterattack, but before I could do that, a goon ran up and tried to punch me in the face. I ducked down and kicked his shin, flinching at the cracking sound that reverberated around the alley. _

_The goon let out a shriek and the other guys' gazes turned to him, and I seized my opening. I kicked another in the gut, but before I could do much more, my head was flung backwards into the wall. _

_The pain seared down my spine and I yelled from the pain of the lightning-like feeling shooting through my body. My vision was blurring but I refused to go down like this. _

_I could feel something trailing down my back. It was thick, warm, and liquid-y, running freely from my scalp onto my neck and down my spine, turning my already dark shirt even darker. _

_I kicked forward and landed a hit, but I couldn't tell who it was that suffered from it. I just hoped it brought them down to the ground for good. Then my uninjured arm was crushed against the wall, and I heard a loud crack, and more pain traveled up my arms into the rest of my body. _

_Adrenaline was pumping through me, but I could only use my legs. The plan to literally 'kick' their asses was ruined when my knees got smashed by something metal, and snapped the wrong way underneath me, cracking loudly. _

_I collapsed harshly on the ground with a thud. _

_A moan escaped my lips, and my eyes began to close, a blackness creeping into my vision._

'_No…No….not now…..I can't…..die yet…..Not….Now….'_

_**Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…thump…...thump...…..thump…...thump...…thump...….thu-**__…_

'_Not…now…..'_

_The pounding in my chest stopped and then everything went black._

…_._

_**Thump…..Thump…..Thump…Thump..Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump.**_

_I could hear noises….screaming, and a voice cursing. It sounded familiar, but born from a long-forgotten memory…..but I was too distracted to try and recall it. _

_My entire body felt like it was being slashed, and after every slash, a piece of my flesh fell off, breaking the dam of the waterfall of crimson that separated it from my body and the world, and it began to stain the dirt a bright red. _

_It hurt. _

_So terribly badly. _

'_Kill me.'_

'_Please. It hurts! Kill me! Kill me! KILL ME!'_

_Then everything went black again._

…_._

_**Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. Thu-Thump. **_

_The first thing I noticed when the black started to fade was the pain in my body. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was still present, rearing its ugly head and laughing at my suffering. After a few moments, my mind drifted to what was going on around me, and my pain became a dull throbbing in the back of my head that I barely acknowledged. _

_I was lying on something, something that was slightly comfortable, so I assumed it was a bed. _

'_Now how in the hell did I get here…'_

_I twitched my fingertips, though they felt numb, and began to slowly open my crusty eyes. It was kind of dark in the room, and quiet. My eyes drifted to my right, and I noticed someone sitting in a chair near me. I gasped, and they looked up, their face caught in one of the few rays of sunset let in through the window. _

_He had bright orange hair, and he was scowling. When it didn't fade, I figured it was permanent. Then I saw his eyes. Chocolate brown. I was suddenly taken back to my first day here in the Soul Society, and though the memory was dim, it was still there. _

'_He's the one I fought with and got sent here with!'_

_I strained to remember his name, and noticed that I was still staring at him. I looked away, my cheeks burning. I coughed, deciding to go ahead and speak to the first person I met here in SS._

"_I guess you're the one who stopped those guys from killing me?"_

_His eyes scoured my face and he nodded._

"_Why?"_

_He looked at me questioningly. "Why wouldn't I?"_

"_Well it's not like we're friends or anything. Hell, if I didn't know better, I would say you couldn't even call us acquaintances."_

"_I don't enjoy watching someone get beat until they're an inch from death. And plus, I owed you one. From our first day here. You protected me from those same guys. So I just returned the favor."_

"_Well thanks, uh….."_

_The orange haired man just smiled and shook his head. "Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki. And your name is Shiro right?"_

"_Haku 'Shiro' Tsukino! Sorry for forgetting your name.."_

"_It's no problem. Just go to sleep. You've got quite a few wounds and you need to heal."_

_I nodded and yawned. "Th-thanks Ichigo." _

"_No problem."_

**-End Flashback-**

As I was blinking open my eyes from reliving the memory, I heard voices and footsteps. Glancing up, I saw 2 fellow students, both male. One had blue hair and teal eyes, accompanied by a scowl not dissimilar from Ichigo's. The other had black, shoulder-length hair with emotionless green eyes, which matched his face. His skin was pale, almost albino, like my own. He had greenish marks trailing down his face, which looked a bit like tear tracks.

They were arguing, or, more like the blue haired one was arguing and the green one was simply replying back in a monotone. They were walking closer to the tree, and sat down on the other side of it, completely ignoring Ichigo and me.

I nudged Ichigo to wake him. Lunch would probably be over in a few minutes, and he should at least be half-way awake before we listen to another teacher's long introductory speech.

He blinked open his eyes and yawned. I couldn't help but smile and think he looked so cute.

'_Wait, cute? Aw damn. I really have become soft.'_

"Mornin' Shiro."

I smirked. "It's afternoon, but good morning to you too."

Ichigo rubbed his eyes, spotting the guys on the other side of the tree. "Who're they?"

"I have absolutely no idea. Wanna ask?"

"Sure."

We scooted until I was right next to the blue haired guy, though he still had yet to notice me. I held back a laugh and slid my face closer to his ear and whispered seductively, "And who might you be?"

The blue haired guy leaped up, punching me in the face. I clutched my nose and glared. Blood was starting to come out.

"What the hell was that for asshole? I'm simply trying to say hello!" I leaped up, but he was a few inches taller.

"You were right next to me! I couldn't help but punch you! It's your fault for thinking someone WOULDN'T punch you for sneaking up and hitting on them!"

"Yea, yea whatever. But anyway, who might you guys be?"

"The one you scared is Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, and I'm Ulquiorra Cifer," the emotion-lacking guy told us.

"I'm Haku Tsukino, but you can call me Shiro. This is Ichigo Kurosaki. Don't mind him right now, he's half asleep." As I was saying that Ichigo was half asleep, his knees buckled and I caught him, wrapping his left arm around my shoulders and wrapping my arm around his waist.

"We're 2nd years. I'm assuming you're the new freshman?"

I nodded, keeping one hand to my nose to stop the bleeding.

"Well you might wanna take your buddy to the nurse, cause he looks terrible. Not that you look much better," broke in Grimmjow.

I scowled at him, but reluctantly agreed. "It was nice to meet ya, guys. See ya around!"

Half-conscious Ichigo and I made our way to the nurse to see if there was something they could do to get his energy back, and get rid of my nosebleed. As I was walking away, I heard Ulquiorra speaking lowly to Grimmjow. All I caught was, "Why do I get the feeling I know the orange-haired boy?"

* * *

**Hehe! So I've dragged Ulqui and Grimmy into the story! :) May chaos ensue! But those of you who didn't understand the 'THUMP's in the flashback, I was trying to show Shiro's heart slowing and then stopping, but then starting up again. **

**And I apologize for not finishing the school day in this chapter. I don't set up actual outlines for each chapter, I simply have a summary for the whole story that I kind of vaguely follow. So, I'll get working on the next chapter...as soon as I catch up on sleep...**

**So press the review button below, it would make my day! Constructive criticism is always great, suggestions, rambling, whatever you'd like. Flames will be laughed at and used to make marshmallows. Now if only I had chocolate...**

**But, in your review, please answer the following question(s);**

**Do you want this to be a Shiro/Ichi yaoi story, just keep it as no pairings, and no yaoi? And would you like me to add in a bit of Renji/Rukia? **

**EDITED: I decided against the Grimm/Ulqui...I'm not sure what I was thinking the night I wrote this XD**

**Til next time!**


	6. Four More Old Enemies

**I apologize so so much for the long wait! Nearly a month! I just started up school again, and in most of my classes, I don't have time to write, and it takes me long enough to write and edit a chapter as it is. So I'll do my best to update regularly, but no guarantees!**

**Note: There will be no yaoi, as originally planned. I don't want to scare away people, so I'm sticking to the original storyline that I planned. But there will be brotherly love, which if you are really desperate, you can squint and see shonen-ai. But its classified as brotherly love. **

**Review replies:**

**Sasuke Uzamaki9999: that hurts ya know? I need my eyeballs! I hope you like this chapter better than my last Taming the Demon chapter. This one has a happy ending. For now ;)**

**TeenageNeko: You're quite welcome! Hahaha Shiro is the best! :D **

**deadpoolhulk: Yes, I wouldnt want to scare away the straight people. Another reason for my decision!**

**Hollow Mashiro: Heheh you shall see!**

**Dorn: I brought in a few more Espadas, as you requested, but Nnoitra is still being debated. I don't like him quite that much, so I think that might make me screw up his character.**

**autumnannette19: Lookie below :)**

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Ichigo and I strode down the hall to our next class, the one where we learn more about our future Zanpakutous.

Ichigo rubbed his head wearily. "Remind me never to go back to the nurse's office."

"Aw Ichigo, you know they were just fallin' head over heels for ya. But I look just like you, which doesn't explain why they looked at me so meanly…."

"They were probably jealous."

I burst out into laughter. "Jealous? What the hell do they have to be jealous of? It's not like we're dating or anything! That'd be awkward as hell!"

"That's for sure! But I dunno. I'm sure you'll have your chance with the ladies sometime, don't worry Shiro."

I grinned over towards Ichigo. "And now's your chance. You should get hurt in one of your next classes so you can go visit the one with the orange hair. She had some pretty big-"

"SHIRO!"

I smirked over at my fellow student and best friend to see him blushing.

"Awww am I ruining your innocence?"

"Like hell you are! But still! I'm not gonna go out with someone just because they have big…..big…."

"They're called boobs, Ichigo."

"SHUT UP!"

I giggled, manly of course, as we walked into our next class. This one gave off a peaceful vibe, and I felt immediately at ease. There were comfortable looking blue mats scattered on the ground, all arranged to face the front of the room, where there was a board to write on. People were already starting to gather and sit on the mats so Ichigo and I claimed some towards the back.

We didn't have a chance to talk anymore, because our instructor walked in. He appeared to be middle-aged, but he still walked with an air of pride, which could almost be called arrogance, which made no sense whatsoever because he taught a class of _freshman_ at the Shinigami Academy. He turned to face the class and I had to do a double take. The guy had _purple _eyes. Like lavender purple. I nudged Ichigo and he was obviously suppressing amazement too, if his expression was anything to judge by.

"Well hello there newbies. How is your first day going?" His voice was soft and kind and he seemed quite wise. I instantly liked him. Much more than the teacher of Zanjutsu.

Everyone in the class nodded in acknowledgement of his question, and he continued on. "My name is Mamoru Takahashi. I will be your instructor for this class over the course of this year." He kept going, explaining what a Zanpakutou was and its relationship with its wielder. I was instantly fascinated, and I couldn't help but wonder what my Zanpakutou would be like.

'_I will get one. Of course I will. I'm training for the 13 Court Guard Squads. And I might even become a captain…..Tsukino Taichou…that has a nice little ring to it.'_

This class passed by quickly, and sooner than I expected, to GONG went off again and Ichigo and I stood and stretched and made our way out the door. We looked at each other and my mouth twisted ruefully.

"Looks like this is where we split off. Have fun in Kido."

Ichigo nodded, "Have a good time in Hakuda, and if you're about to get raped, just scream. I'll hear ya and come save your sorry ass." He winked in my direction and spun and walked arrogantly towards his next class before I could respond. I simply laughed good-naturedly and headed towards the Hakuda room.

I had to go to Hakuda and Kido before Ichigo and I met back up at break. Ichigo had just finished Kido and Reiatsu control, so we just discussed Kido after Ichigo commented dryly on how boring Reiatsu Control was.

We both got the same impression of our Kido teacher, Akemi Nishimura. Scary. As. Hell. A lot of the older students told us that she idolized the captain of squad 2, Soi Fon, so her attitude slowly became like hers, too. That made me shiver. I wanted to be a captain too, but knowing I'd have to work and get along with someone like her made me groan.

We got comfortable underneath the tree we sat under earlier, discussing what we thought about our day so far, and how nuts the teachers were, ignoring the topic of our Zanjutsu teacher of course, when we spotted the 2 second years from before. But this time, they had a couple other people next to them.

There was a girl with long teal hair and a red mark beneath her eyes, and looked like she was bouncing along with them, instead of walking. There was another girl who was striding along next to her, with blonde hair, messy at the top, but with 3 long strands coming down. Her skin was dark, her eyes green, accentuated by the thick blonde eyelashes. The only other girl was short and had light green hair, and appeared to be yelling at a man next to her. The man had wavy shoulder-length brown hair and was keeping up the green haired girl, seemingly ignoring her yells.

"Yo, Grimmjow!"

Grimmjow's head turned in my direction, and a smirk spread out over his face. "Hey, Shiro! Ichigo!"

He changed his direction to walk towards us, his gang of friends following languidly behind. When everyone had reached us, Grimmjow made a sweeping motion with his arm. "I suppose introductions are in order!"

He pointed to the bouncing teal haired girl. "That's Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, but just call her Nel. And don't let her hug you. You'll pass out. No joke." Ichigo and I nodded, watching Nel warily as she smiled at us happily.

He pointed to the serious looking blonde haired girl. "This is Tia Harribel. Don't get on her bad side."

Next was the short green-haired girl. "This is Lilynette Gingerback. She can be kind of violent…So watch your backs."

Lilynette slapped Grimmjow. "Who're you calling violent?"

"You, obviously."

She slapped him again, but resorted to pouting angrily when he didn't take it back.

Then Grimmjow waved his hand at the brown haired man. "And last but not least, this is Coyote Starrk."

Starrk grunted in acknowledgement of us, and lay down on the grass and went to sleep. I laughed, amused by how easily he could sleep with the little shrimp of a girl still chattering his ear off.

"Everybody," continued Grimmjow, "This is Shiro and Ichigo. They're first years, so no swirlies. Or not yet anyway." His eyes twinkled mischievously as his smirk broadened. "How's your first day, guys?"

"Besides nearly being raped by the Zanjutsu teacher, pretty good."

Grimmjow nodded seriously. "That guy has issues. When he wants something, he'll do anything in his power to get it. We'll help ya stay away from him."

I smiled my appreciation and leaned my head back against the tree, my eyes sliding shut. Until I heard a grunt and a gasp from Ichigo next to me. My eyes flashed open to see that Nel was suffocating Ichigo in a bone-crushing hug. I chuckled in pity for my poor friend as he struggled to get the girl off.

Ulquiorra spoke up, his emotionless mask breaking for a moment to reveal a hint of a smile, before the mask returned. "We told you not to let her get her arms around you."

Ichigo groaned in response, eyes fluttering. I stepped in using my foot and arms to pry Nel off of Ichigo, but she quickly switched targets and dived at me. I yelped, leaping up to dash away, as she chased and quickly caught up. She glomped me to the ground, and I twisted in my desperation to get up and not be crushed by this nutcase.

'_I'm not going to die like this!'_

I could hear everyone laughing at me and I glared over at Grimmjow and Ichigo, who had recovered enough to take amusement in my suffering.

"Hey Nel," I said slyly.

"Yes Shiro," she chirped back at me.

"I think Ichigo wants another hug."

She beamed in reply, leaping off of me and dashing back towards the orange-haired student, who shrieked, getting to his feet and running. Then he blurred and disappeared all-together, confusing Nel who spun around in circles.

"Itsygo? Where'd you go? ITSYGO!"

I laughed at her pronunciation. Ichigo was _never _going to hear the end of this. I was jerked out of my thoughts by a ''Holy Shit!'' above me, and I quickly glanced up. Ichigo was standing above me. In the middle of the air.

"Wow Ichigo! How the hell'd you get up there!"

"I'll tell you as soon as I find out!"

"Well what's it like?"

"What standing in mid-air? I dunno, I feel like I'm subconsciously making a floor. I guess its instinctive or something. I feel like its second nature!"

My lips pursed. I wouldn't be beaten by my look-alike. I mean, if he could do it, who says I can't?

I took a deep breath and imagined a staircase in the air, and I tentatively brought my foot up on the first 'step'. It didn't fall back down and I sighed in relief. I imagined the rest of the staircase and bounded to stand up next to Ichigo.

Nel was yelling at us to come back down, while Grimmjow and Ulquiorra shook their heads amusedly. Harribel wasn't really doing anything and Lilynette was bouncing on Starrk's stomach, trying to wake him up. Then that horrible GONG went off and I lost my concentration, so I started hurtling towards the ground. I yelped in surprise and braced myself for the impact of the hard ground, but it never came. Instead, I felt something soft and warm holding me up.

I looked up and saw brown eyes. "Thanks Ichigo! I owe you one."

Ichigo chuckled, and somehow managed to lower himself easily down the rest of the way to the ground. "No problem. You'd do the same for me."

I grinned. "Why of course! I couldn't let you turn into a pancake now can I?"

Ichigo set me down on my feet and we started walking back to the school with Grimmjow's group as we discussed what had just happened.

* * *

I strode happily out of my reiatsu control class. Ichigo was right, that guy was bor-ring! I nearly fell asleep about a dozen times, but managed to keep myself awake by thinking about my next option class, assassination. Supposedly it was training for the 2nd squad, not that I wanted to be in that one, but hey, a little extra stealth never hurt anyone!

I got to the clearing outside of the school where apparently the class met up and spotted Ichigo, standing near Nel and Grimmjow. They didn't notice me coming up, so I snuck up behind Ichigo and launched myself onto his back for a piggy-back ride.

"Hey guys! I thought you were 2nd years?"

Grimmjow rolled his eyes, but let Nel answer. "We are, but this class is for 1st and 2nd years! I had this class last year too and it was so much fun! The game we played at the beginning was awesome! I hope we play it today!"

Ichigo shifted my weight around til I was balanced, and held onto my legs so I wouldn't fall as I clutched his shoulders. I was about to demand for him to run around when a woman's voice stopped me.

"Class, front and center!"

Grimmjow and Nel, having had this teacher before, knew she was to be feared, so they scrambled off to get in a line in front of her. I huffed into Ichigo's hair as he carried me towards the teacher and knelt down to set me on the ground.

"Quickly, quickly, people, we haven't got all day!"

Once the entire class was in a straight, shoulder-to-shoulder line in front of her, she paced back in forth, looking each of us in the eye. She paused for a moment in front of Ichigo, her expression calculating as her eyes twitched towards me and back to Ichigo. Then, as if discovering something satisfying, she continued down the line. Ichigo and I exchanged bewildered expressions, unsure of her assessment of us.

"Alright everybody, welcome to the class Assassination. I am your teacher, Maiko Ishikawa, and do not even consider slacking off today. We will be playing a game today, called 'Marker',-" A squeal of excitement erupted farther down the line, which I identified as Nel. Guess this was the game she was talking about. "-and the rules are simple. Get into groups of 8. Each member of the group will get a different colored marker. The object of the game is the 'assassinate' as many of your group members as you can before you get 'killed'. To kill someone, you have to drag your marker across the back of their neck, making a colored line. Split up into your groups!"

Ichigo and I were instantly joined by Nel and Grimmjow, and another group of 4 approached us, and we agreed to group up with them. The only name that I remembered was one, Sora, but that didn't really matter. They didn't remember my name either.

We were all handed a different color. I got green, Ichigo got red, Grimmjow got purple, Nel received blue, and the other 4 got yellow, orange, pink, and black. We were assigned an area of space, and we each took a position away from the other members.

Then, Ishikawa's whistle went off, and Grimmjow dived toward Ichigo, and I slipped behind him to mark his neck before he could 'kill' his target. Grimmjow turned and glared before falling to the ground and 'dying'. Nel had gotten the guy with the yellow marker, and I got the girl with the pink one. Before long, it was just me, Nel, and Ichigo. Ichigo looked at me meaningfully, and I grinned in response. We darted towards Nel, who leaped away startled, as we chased her to try and box her in. I finally got her, and she, like Grimmjow, fell to the ground to 'die'.

I faced Ichigo, and smirked. I refused to lose to him. We did a kind of dance around each other, one diving towards the other who only got away. We continued this until the end of class, leaving us both tired and panting. I reached my hand out to shake his.

"Good game," I panted.

"Th-anks." He replied.

Our teacher dismissed us and we stumbled back to our rooms. Ichigo got to the bathroom to shower first, so I had to wait until he got out to claim it. Once I was finished showering, I dressed and met Ichigo by the door. "Dinnertime!" He chuckled at my enthusiasm, and followed behind me as I skipped down the hall. We quickly reached the cafeteria, quickly eating dinner before going back to our room.

"Good night, Ichigo," I yawned.

"Night Shiro."

I found myself reminiscing about the day and couldn't help but think this year wasn't going to be too bad.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. Sorry that it's kinda short! So, now that you've now read the newest chapter, leave your reviews by clicking the little button below. Tell me how I did, if I had any problems, if you got bored halfway through, if there were a lack of problems, or anything else you can think of!**

**And I want to give credit for the game to my friends Hunter, Josh, and Jacob, not that they'll ever know I used it. They used to do this at school all the time, so when I was pondering on what they should do their first day in that class, it popped into my head and I was like, PERFECT! So thanks guys :)**

**And I've got a quick question. Would any of you be interested in a Fullmetal Alchemist X Hunger Games crossover? Tell me in a review please! I want to know if its a good idea or not...**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Til next time!**


	7. The Gotei 13's visit

**Aren't you guys proud of me? I got an update up in 5 days! Woo! Celebrate! -throws confetti-**

**I'm not going to blab on long, don't worry! This chapter is fairly short, but it does the job. I hope it turns out ok! **

**And I'm going to my grandma's Tuesday-Saturday, and I have yet to find out if I will have internet access or not. I pray that I do! Then maybe I can update for you amazing people! **

**I only got a few reviews last time, so maybe we can beat that this time! But all the same, I totally appreciate you guys taking the time to tell me your thoughts!**

**Review Replies:**

**TeenageNeko: Yay! I'm glad you liked it :D**

**Sasuke Uzamaki9999: For now? 0.o Bring it on! I'm not going down without a fight :P not that i'll need to fight ya, cause this chapter is relatively non-violent, and there's a lack of Shiro/Ichi bashing or hurting XD**

**animelover1993: I'm glad my sarcastic humor works for ya ;) Hehehe I hope this chappy lives up to your expectations!**

**whitespiderlilly: That's true, most of them are yaoi. Not that I'm complaining or anything XD**

**Blah, I've blabbed on too much, enjoy the chappy!**

* * *

_-Friday, Week 1-_

The Academy was abuzz with gossip. _3 _captains and a lieutenant were coming to see the students and find out who has potential and who doesn't! The teachers were scrambling to get their students prepared for the visit. The class about how to be a Soul Reaper was spent teaching the names of the captains and lieutenants of the Gotei 13, as well as how to address them, and be able to understand references they may make.

It was Friday morning, and all Shiro and Ichigo wanted to do was sleep in. When they lived in Rukongai, they hadn't needed to wake up early every day, work hard all day, and then only get about 6 or 7 hours of sleep. It was taking its toll on them.

Not like they would be allowed to sleep in on recruit day though.

A banging on the dorm door made Shiro groan and roll out of bed. He ran a hand through his hair as he blinked through the bleariness of his eyes to open the door. Standing there was the one and only Nel. Shiro jumped back, put a hand to his chest and scowled.

"Nel! You aren't supposed to come into the boys' dorms! And why are you here?"

Nel ignored Shiro and flounced into the room and collapsed onto one of the chairs, feet under her.

"Don't tell me you already forgot that the captains are coming today, Shiro! You have to be at your best! And since I know that you and Itsygo are always so tired, I decided to come and make sure you got up!"

Shiro muttered a string of curses under his breath before stumbling back over to his bed, pulling the covers over his head. Ichigo was still in his bed, snoring loudly, not even disturbed from his sleep by Nel's appearance.

"Awww come on you guys! Please? Don't make me bring Grimmy in here!" She threatened. With that, and some complaining, Ichigo and Shiro rolled out of bed, Ichigo moving to the bathroom for a shower.

"Okay, Nel, we're up, you can go now," urged Shiro.

"Ok!" She bounced out of their room before disappearing quickly so she didn't get caught.

Shiro scoffed, closing the door, and went to go change. This day was going to be long.

* * *

**Shiro's POV**

Breakfast was spent arguing with Grimmjow, trying to get Nel and Lilynette to shut up, and doing anything in their power to get Ulquiorra to smile. Not that that was physically possible.

Instead of going straight to class after breakfast, the students had to line up along the gate's entrance and sidewalk to greet the captains and lieutenants. I ran a hand through my snow white hair boredly, wishing these captains would hurry up and come so I could sit down in class. Ichigo and I had managed to grab front row spots, around the middle of the length of the sidewalk to the Academy entrance, so we would be able to see the Captains and lieutenant very clearly from our position.

The crowd was chatting and laughing, until it quickly became dead silent. I took this as my cue to look to my right towards the gates, and right on time, the gates swung open, admitting 4 people. One looked middle aged, with snow-white hair like my own, but he was tall and kind of skinny. The girl by his side had raven-colored hair, purple eyes, and could be called a midget. But the real midget was the boy by her side. His hair was like mine, white, and he had teal eyes, with a stance that screamed, "Respect me or pay!" The last figure had spiky red hair, with black tattoos on his forehead. Pineapple head.

I chuckled at my own joke, causing Ichigo to glance over at me curiously. I leaned over and whispered in his ear, "The one with the red hair and tattoos-his hair makes it look like he's a pineapple!"

Ichigo covered his mouth to cover his giggles, and I had to copy his motion, not wanting to draw attention to myself. The crowd was already quite enough. The captains and lieutenant were walking right in front of us. The black-haired midget stared at Ichigo, but after receiving a sharp glance from the white-haired tall guy, she looked forward again, reluctantly.

I nudged Ichigo. "You've got an admirer," I whispered teasingly.

He punched me. "No I don't!" He shouted accidentally. The crowd swivelled their gazes toward him and he chuckled nervously. "Er...hi?"

At least everyone and their brothers rolled their eyes before giving their attention back to the parading Gotei 13 representatives. I couldn't help but wonder if they would come visit any of our classes.

* * *

My thoughts were correct. The first class they visited us in was in Zanjutsu. I avoided the teacher, which was difficult, because after a week of classes, Ichigo and I were easily the best, so he wanted to 'showcase' us. He told us to grab 2 wooden asauchis, and spar for the white haired tall guy and short black haired midget, who I'd learned was Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Kuchiki.

Ichigo and I happily sparred; we enjoyed going against each other. We were evenly matched, so there was no clear winner when Matsushita stopped us. The captain and lieutenant wanted to talk to us, so we both shrugged and put away our swords, walking over to them.

Lieutenant Kuchiki couldn't keep her eyes off of Ichigo, and I repeatedly nudged him to remind him of this fact. We had a good conversation, Captain Ukitake was really nice, but Lieutenant Kuchiki was kind of formal; not at ease, whatsoever.

We bid them goodbye respectfully, which the Lieutenant was obviously surprised by. When Ichigo bowed and told her to have a good day, referring to her as Lieutenant, I could've sworn her bottom jaw was going to fall off.

I told him later and we had a good laugh over it.

* * *

**Ichigo's POV**

It was really cool seeing Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Kuchiki in Zanjutsu, so I was really surprised when I found out that another Captain, the short one with white hair, was going to be in my Kido class.

My mind wouldn't stop drifting back to Lieutenant Kuchiki. For some reason, I felt a part of mind straining to get me to do something, and I wracked my brain for the possibility of me meeting her before, but I knew for fact that I hadn't during my time in Inuzuri.

I wasn't anywhere near as good at Kido as Zanjutsu, which I, and Shiro, was known around campus for. But I got passing grades, just barely. All my kido would blow up in my face, and I could never figure out why. My teacher told me it was from lack of control with my reiatsu, so I'd worked harder in my Reiatsu class, but it only made a small difference.

I went through the class, and I was ok at best, but the Captain, Captain Hitsugaya I found out, wanted to talk to me, just like Captain Ukitake. I agreed, surprised, when the teacher informed me of this, and walked over to the Captain. I bowed, saying, "Hello, Captain Hitsugaya."

The captain jumped, and stared at me, surprised, just like Lieutenant Kuchiki had done. I frowned.

"Why does everyone keep doing that? Did I grow a second head or something?"

"What did you call me, Kurosaki?"

My eyebrow quirked and I answered, "Captain Hitsugaya."

The 10th captain simply looked up at me, unsure of how to respond. He finally spoke up. "You're special, so call me Toshiro," he said, almost grudgingly.

I looked at him, shocked. "Toshiro? I could never! I'm not even in the Court Guard squads! You're Captain Hitsugaya to an Academy student like me!"

I think the Captain may have nearly fainted on the spot. "Y-you _don't _want to call me Toshiro?"

I shook my head emphatically. "I couldn't! You're my superior!"

Captain Hitsugaya simply stared, murmuring an excuse before darting away, leaving me confused as hell.

* * *

Break flew by, with me arguing with Shiro and Grimmjow like normal, and dodging Nel's bone-crushing hugs. I saw the Pineapple-headed Captain watching me from afar, but I simply shook it off.

I found out in Hakuda that they decided to combine us with the Reiatsu Control class for all the Captains to observe. Which meant I got to spar Shiro again, since, once again, we were the best in the class.

Sakamoto told Shiro and I to face each other and get into our stances. Obeying, we shifted, warily eyeing each other, waiting for an opening. There-Shiro's left fist dropped! I dived, my right arm coming around for a punch. Shiro blocked and used the momentum from my punch to flip backwards, meanwhile kicking me in the chest. I gasped, the air knocked out of me, but I quickly recovered, moving to block his elbow coming towards my shoulder.

My left fist moved to land a blow to his face, but while he was distracted with blocking that, my right came around and got him in the gut. His face contorted in pain before he pushed away the pain to face me again. But of course, like in Zanjutsu, the teacher stopped us, saying it was another group's turn. I shot a smile at Shiro before offering my hand in a handshake.

He shook it, a confident look overtaking his features, and before I could even be suspicious, he had me in a headlock, raking his knuckles across my scalp. I couldn't bite back the shriek of surprise that escaped my lips.

"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow, Oww! Shiro! Stop, stop, stop! Agh that hurts! Get the hell off!" With a shove, I finally managed to get him off, and I ran my hands through my hair, attempting to get it a little neater, not that that was possible.

Laughter was echoing across the room, originating from the class, and even the captains and lieutenant. Captain Hitsugaya was trying to keep his bored expression on, but was failing miserably, a smile cracking across his face as he bit back his amusement.

I scowled (deeper) at Shiro before stomping over to a seat. Shiro followed, laughing along with everyone else.

"Aw, Ichi, don't be offended! We're not laughin' at ya! We're simply laughin' with ya. So laugh Ichi!"

My lips smashed together, and I glared my response.

"Alright, if that's how you wanna play this..." warned Shiro.

His hands reached my sides and softly pinched and poked and prodded before I couldn't hold back my laughter. It echoed around the room, and a part of my mind absentmindedly noticed that a few people tilted their heads to listen to it, to relish the sound. Most were girls, but I think a few were guys...Uh oh.

Shiro stopped his 'torture' and spun to sit next to me, as my chuckles died off, and I gasped to regain my breath. The GONG signified the end of class, and because of the crazy schedules, we were allowed to, instead of going to the rest of our classes, just hang around campus, and speak with the Captains, if permitted to.

I didn't really want to talk to the Captains, since Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Kuchiki were still staring at him as if he was completely insane, but Shiro and Nel had other ideas. They jogged up to the huge crowd surrounding the Gotei 13 members, dragging me along, and attempted to get the Captains' attention by jumping and waving their arms like birds, their yells even sounded like a bird squawk!

Since there were so many students, we didn't get a chance to talk to them again, which I was quite thankful for. Nel and Shiro were pouting on our way to dinner and I attempted to cheer them up, which was difficult, since I'm naturally a mildly apathetic guy.

"C'mon guys, don't be like this! When we finally graduate, we'll get to see them all the time. And if we work hard enough, we can maybe be their lieutenants, or even Captains! We'd be their equals! That's something to look forward to, right?"

My companions brightened at the thought, and Shiro merrily threw his arm around my shoulders.

"Good point, Ichi!"

I simply rolled my eyes, as we continued down the halls, my stomach echoing my plea for food, making me blush, and my friends laugh.

* * *

Rukia, Renji, Jushiro, and Toshiro were on their way back to Seireitei, taking their time walking the route to discuss the past day, which, as we all know, was pretty hectic.

Rukia was still slightly shell-shocked at how changed Ichigo was, but still so happy at seeing him alive, that she had to squash every impulse that ran through her to go back and squeeze him in a huge hug.

Renji was happy to see the orange-haired now Soul-Reaper-in-training, but was more indifferent than Rukia.

Toshiro was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with Ichigo. He had called him _Captain Hitsugaya_!

Ukitake was simply strolling along, amused with the different expressions on the faces of his companions.

"He called me _Captain Hitsugaya_," muttered Toshiro to himself.

Renji snorted. "Of course he did. He lost his memories and now he's being trained like all the rest of us were. Soul Society's definitely happy he isn't as rebellious. No longer the 'Disrespectful brat' anymore, now is he? They can control his power, without him going against them whenever he sees fit."

"Well, I know that already Abarai, I'm simply saying that it's _amazing! _I'm so used to hearing him call me Toshiro, that it's almost strange to hear him call me by my rank. And the best part is, I told him to call me Toshiro, but he refused!"

"You really are a kid at heart, aren't you, Toshiro?"

"Oh shut up Renji."

"Beautiful comeback, Hitsugaya Taichou."

A vein in Hitsugaya's forehead pulsed, but other than that, he didn't acknowledge hearing Renji's comment.

"I'm just happy he's ok, and alive." Rukia finally spoke up.

"Yes indeed. Kurosaki is safe and happy, and his twin seems quite...normal. For a Kurosaki at least." Ukitake joined in their conversation.

Renji chuckled. "Ain't that the truth. With Isshin, and Ichigo, and now this Haku guy? Kurosaki's are going to take over the world!" The younger Captains had all by now learned about Isshin's existence and past as a Soul Reaper.

"Especially with that hollow of his. Imagine if Isshin and Haku got one," joked Rukia.

"Speaking of that hollow, I wonder what happened to it. Do you think it got purified and sent to Hueco Mundo," questioned Hitsugaya.

Renji shrugged. "Most likely. I don't think a Vizard has ever been killed before, so I'm not really sure about the effects. What do you think, Ukitake?"

Ukitake pondered this for a moment, his shihakusho and haori fluttering in the wind. "Possibly. I suppose we won't ever find out. Though if he hasn't taken over Ichigo yet, it is not likely he ever will. We should keep this conversation to ourselves though. We don't want Mayuri getting his hands on Kurosaki."

Rukia nodded grimly. "I think even the new, respectful Ichigo would have an issue with that."

They all nodded agreement, continuing on to their separate destinations, each of their individual thoughts surrounding the lone Kurosaki, who, obliviously, was curling up in bed for a nice long sleep, and murmuring goodnight to his best friend, Haku 'Shiro' Tsukino.

* * *

**As you can probably guess, that didn't turn out like I'd hoped. I felt like there were a lot of holes, but to tell the truth, I'm too tired to care XD **

**So review with your comments on how you thought this chapter went, or how it should have gone, please! I personally enjoyed writing Hitsugaya's reaction to being called "Captain" by Ichigo. ^_^**

**I bid you all goodbye with a fic recommendation, and some song lyrics! **

**Go check out "Hollow Feelings" by Daricio. Great fic, if you ask me. Its Shiro's side of the story whenever he and Ichigo first meet in the anime, and until he becomes a Vizard or officially anyway. It shows him as actually a 'good' guy rather than Bleach's main antagonist, and that's how I feel towards Shiro, so it was really freaking cool to check it out, it's under my favorite stories! Shoo!**

**_"So I'll find what lies beneath, your sick twisted smile, as I lie underneath your cold jaded eyes. Now you turn the tide on me, cause you're so unkind. I will always be here, for the rest of my life." ~What Lies Beneath-Breaking Benjamin_**

**I freaking love song lyrics :) If you have any good song suggestions, by all means, send them to me in a PM. I've been wanting to hear some good music. **

**So, Until Next Time!**


	8. 3 Years Later & A Month from Grad

**Wheee! New Chapter! Numero 8! And guess what? You get to discover Shiro's Zanpakutou :D Yayyy! I know all of you are jumping with joy! -cricket noises- Damn, tough crowd, huh?**

**Review Replies:**

**Animelover1993: Haha doesn't matter whether or not you log in XD I loved writing that part. I'm probably going to do a lot of interaction between Toshiro and Ichi. And Shiro. Maybeh...Dunno yet XD**

**Sasuke Uzamki9999:**** Yo, Sasuke! Oh quite well actually! I hope you're doing good! Aw, but friendly chit chat is so nice! Psh, yes it will. I've designed most of this story to fit in with the Bleach storyline, as of now. (Manga-wise) So, HAH! ;)**

**Not too many reviews, but that's ok! As long as you guys are reading and enjoying! **

**Well, heres a time skip for you guys! I'm so impatient to get the story REALLY started. I've been falling asleep writing this stuff while Taming the Demon writes itself!**

* * *

It's been 3 years since Ichigo and I's first day at the Soul Reaper academy. We were 6th years, and everyone we spoke to called us prodigies. Apparently if we didn't become seated officers in the court guard squads right after graduation, then someone was crazy in the head.

Ichigo and I were masters at Zanjutsu; we were said to be able to rival the abilities of a 3rd seat in the 11th squad. At least. Our hakuda was exemplary. Kido was difficult for both of us, but we scraped by. For some reason, our kido teacher didn't expect much of us in that subject. It was almost as if she _assumed _we would be terrible at it.

We breezed through hoho. We didn't even need to take it this year since we had tested out of it.

Ichigo wasn't good at controlling his reiatsu without concentrating, but it was second nature to me, and oftentimes I found myself helping Ichigo during our free period.

We both had discovered our Zanpakutou's names, and shikai. Our Zanpakutous were oddly similar, which led us to believe that perhaps they were brother swords or twins or something of the sort. Like Harry Potter and Voldemort's wands are brothers or something.

The best part about being 6th years is going to the World of the Living on practice missions. Which is what we were doing right now.

Sora Matsushita, the Zanjutsu teacher, had volunteered to take us there, and watch over us to make sure no one got hurt. I still avoided him as much as I could, but it seemed that he had lost interest in me, instead now he had an eye on a poor 3rd year girl, who I couldn't help but feel sorry for.

"Are all the 6th years here? Good, good. Today, we are going to the World of the Living to fight real hollows. I know many of you must be excited, since this is your first time going! But stay cautious; hollows can be very dangerous when provoked. Everyone, choose your partner, and let's get going! "

I wrapped my arm around Ichigo's shoulder to symbolize that he was my partner and he shrugged it off before we jogged up to the Senkaimon, passing through it. We came out in a wooded area and we waited as the rest of our classmates got through the gate.

"Ok everyone, here we go! Remember, 3 hollows per group!" Sora shouted loud enough for everyone to hear and then crushed a small piece of hollow bait between his fingers. Within minutes, hollows were appearing for all around.

I dragged Ichigo farther away from the group so we could fight and release our spiritual pressure without worrying about hindering or hurting anyone else around us. Our teachers had drilled into us that our pressure was lieutenant level, and if not controlled and was released completely, it could hurt a lot of people.

A large hollow appeared in front of us, and Ichigo pulled his sealed Zanpakutou off his back. It was huge, as long as his body, but so was mine. Our Zanpakutous were similarly wrapped on our backs so we simultaneously unravelled them and got into defensive positions.

The hollow let out a roar and dived towards us. I dodged, Ichigo copying, and took a swing at it, but missed. Ichigo and I both leaped towards it to attack multiple times, but it always managed to dodge just in time.

"Fuck this," I muttered. I held my katana perpendicular to my body. "Take flight and shine, Taiyo no Ryu!"

My Zanpakutou transformed, turning into what looked like a giant cleaver, with a silver edge. It didn't have a hilt like normal Zanpakutous, just a black and yellow streaked cloth handle, with a strip of the cloth hanging off, and a sun charm hanging off the end.

I jumped at the hollow, and managed to cut off its arm, and it screamed in pain. While it was distracted, I quickly cut its mask and turned to Ichigo, who looked bored.

"You had to release Taiyo no Ryu just for that? I bet he's pissed," Ichigo remarked.

"Oh shut up. I bet Zangetsu is even more pissed at the fact that _I _was the one who beat the hollow," I retorted.

"Eh, probably. I guess I should release so I can kill one this time, huh?"

"Che. Do what you want."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, and released Zangetsu, similarly to myself. Zangetsu looked almost exactly like my Taiyo no Ryu, except with a white cloth around the handle, and was slightly wider. Exactly why I thought we had brother Zanpakutous, since they looked so similar. But their personalities were so different that we weren't quite sure.

Another roar brought me out of my thoughts, and my head flicked to the side to see another hollow that looked like a snake staring at us, looking like it was about to bite or something.

I just looked at it boredly. "Akuma no Doku," I shouted, lazily swinging Taiyo no Ryu at the hollow, sending out a yellow and white outlined flash of condensed reiatsu from Taiyo no Ryu, hitting the hollow straight on and killing it.

"2 me, 0 Ichigo."

Ichigo pouted at me. "C'mon Shiro! I wanted that one!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You can have the next, ok?"

His expression brightened considerably. "Good!"

We were interrupted again by another hollow, which was ugly as hell by the way, roaring in our faces.

"Why can't we have any of the hollows that talk," I whined to no one.

Ichigo didn't answer, instead going towards the hollow, swinging Zangetsu at it, killing it with one strike.

"This is really boring, don't ya think so, Shiro?"

I couldn't help but nod. "That's very true. I wish we could sleep."

"Well we can't take any more hollows out; I'm sure everyone else wants a chance too."

I shrugged. "Alrighty then. Let's head back."

We shun-poed quickly to Sora, informing him we had killed our 3 hollows, and were heading back to the academy. He nodded his permission, and we disappeared through the gate. When we got out, we resealed our Zanpakutous and wandered over to the trees. We had the rest of the day to ourselves.

I leaned back against the tree with a grunt of approval. "1 month and we're out of here, Ichi. No more school. And then we can start working to become Captains."

Ichigo just laughed. "I'll enjoy the day when we become captains. But for now? It's nice just to relax like this under the sun. It feels so nice."

I couldn't help but agree. It was a wonderfully peaceful day, and I wanted to enjoy every minute of it. But then of course, my boredom overtook the pleasure of the sun's golden light.

"I'm bored Ichi."

"Well then, what do you want to do?"

"Get our Zanpakutous together and have a big group conversation?"

Ichigo chuckled at my suggestion. "Don't you remember what happened last time? They fight more than we do. I still stand by the belief that they are brothers but don't know about it."

"Well, let's do it! We don't want brothers harboring ill feelings towards each other!"

"Alright, alright. Meet you at the normal spot?"

I winked at him. "Like always!"

Our conversation ended as we drew ourselves into our inner worlds where we conversed with our Zanpakutou. I opened my eyes to feel the soft but firm clouds beneath my feet, and the sun on my right in a mid-afternoon setting.

I tipped my head back and placed my hands around my mouth. "TAIYO NO RYU!" I bellowed as loud as I could. Almost instantly, Taiyo no Ryu appeared in front of me. He took on the form of a teenager, not looking too far from my age.

His hair was ear-length and cut shaggily, highlighting the bright red color of it, and his eyes were the strangest orange color. He looked like a badass, which was just fine with me. We get along pretty well. Except that one time he scared the hell out of me by randomly making his hair into fire, which has now become a normal occurrence. It doesn't burn him. Quite the contrary, it's basically like his hair is flame colored and likes to fly around. He, unlike a lot of Zanpakutous, seemed to like wearing what humans wear. He had on black pants that were tattered at the bottom and were getting thinner at the knees and a black t-shirt that was outlined in yellow.

"Yo, Taiyo."

"Sup, Shiro?"

"Wanna talk to 'Getsu and Ichi?" We had nicknames for everyone. Taiyo didn't like being called by his full name unless whoever was addressing him was being serious. And that applied to everyone he talked to. _Everyone _had a nickname that he would call them, no matter what.

Taiyo shrugged at my question, and his hair turned to flame. "Sure why not? Has 'Getsu seen my hair catch on fire?"

"Yep. You showed him that last time. Remember? He just rolled his eyes and told you that there was no way you could scare him."

"Oh yea...I WILL scare him shitless sometime! I just have to decide how..."

"Well, while you're thinking about that, let's go. We're meeting them in the middle, like always."

Taiyo whined as he fell into step next to me. "Why can't they just come over here? The sideways buildings freak me out!"

"Yea, well the fact that we're walking on clouds scares the hell out of Ichi. So we have to make a compromise somehow, right?"

Taiyo grumbled but fell silent. Since walking was slow, I shun-poed ahead, knowing Taiyo would catch up eventually, and I concentrated on Ichigo's reiatsu. Slowly, my inner world transformed to allow me to stand on the blue buildings, but the sun from my world still lingered, and every once in a while, you were stepping on a cloud instead of a building.

Ichigo and Zangetsu had already beaten me there, so I pushed my shunpo to go faster and stopped right in front of Ichigo, but the momentum from my quick stop pushed me into Ichigo, who laughed as he caught me.

"Way to go, Shiro."

"Oh go fall in a hole."

"There aren't any holes here though!"

"Want me to make one?"

"Nah, Taiyo probably will in one of his attempts to scare the hell out of Zangetsu. Won't he ever learn that Zangetsu is impossible to scare?"

I shook my head. "Taiyo is a stubborn ass Zanpakutou. He'll never give up."

As if to prove the point of my words, I saw a shimmer in the air next to me before I saw Taiyo sitting on Zangetsu's shoulders, who simply looked up boredly at Taiyo.

"Mind getting down, Taiyo no Ryu?"

"How many times have I told you to call me Taiyo, Old man?"

"About the same amount of times you've tried to scare me. Both attempts are failures in the making, just like you."

Ichigo and I gawked at his Zanpakutou. Had he just made a _joke_? Or an attempt at one? Either way, his serious facade was obviously shattering.

"Hey! Shut up old man! I'm not a failure! I mean, look at my wielder! I've trained him pretty well! He could beat Ichi if he really tried."

"I highly doubt that. Look how Haku had to release his shikai to beat that hollow."

"Well at least _Shiro_ defeated it! He defeated twice as many hollows as Ichi over there!"

By this point, Ichigo and I were sweatdropping. These two never failed to argue. If you could call it arguing. Zangetsu was so mellow that it was hard to get an angry reaction out of him. Taiyo was so hot headed that if you commented on something as stupid as the weather, he'd demand to know if you were making fun of him.

Taiyo and Zangetsu argued back for a few more moments before Zangetsu decided he was tired of acting like a child, so he just fell silent, leaving Taiyo hanging, which frustrated him. I hummed in amusement at my Zanpakutou's childishness, but you couldn't ever say it wasn't amusing. Taiyo leaped off Zangetsu's shoulders, crossing his arms, and pouted.

"So Taiyo, were you pissed that Shiro had to go into shikai to beat that hollow," questioned Ichigo slyly. He was screwing with my Zanpakutou's head. Why does everyone enjoy doing that?

"Eh, I don't really care. As long as he doesn't die."

"Well gee, that's reassuring. Thanks, partner," I commented dryly to said partner, who only plastered a shit-eating grin onto his face.

"Why you're very welcome, _partner_," Taiyo mocked, and I couldn't resist kicking him in the shin.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?"

"No need for the dirty mouth, Taiyo." I smirked. Taiyo loved his swearing. He hardly ever went 5 minutes without swearing at least a few times.

"Like you're any better. I do believe I remember you saying '_Fuck this'_ this morning when you fought that first hollow," countered the now flame-haired Zanpakutou.

"And you're point?" Was my oh-so-brilliant comeback. Yep. I had skill. Of course I could beat anyone at a verbal match!

"I believe you know my point, Shiro," leered Taiyo teasingly.

"Yea, whatever," I responded lamely. Yep. I was definitely the King of banter.

The conversation kind of ended lamely and now we were all just standing around awkwardly until Zangetsu told us that the group was returning from the World of the Living.

"Ok. See ya Ichigo and Zangetsu," I called, waving.

"Toodles, 'Getsu and Ichi!"

"See ya in a minute Shiro! Bye Taiyo!"

"Goodbye Haku and Taiyo no Ryu."

"I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO CALL ME TAIYO, OLD MAN!"

I could've sworn that I saw Zangetsu chuckle, but I brushed it off. This was _Zangetsu_ we were talking about. Must've been a trick of the light or something.

Taiyo and I started back on our trek to our world, bickering back and forth about nothing important. As the buildings faded and were replaced by the familiar clouds, I bid Taiyo goodbye and returned to the outside world. My eyes blinked open slowly and I yawned and stretched, accidentally knocking the still unconscious Ichigo in the head.

"Woops," I muttered nervously. At least he was still asleep. Scratch that, he's waking up now. After rousing himself, Ichigo and I stood and made our way over to our classmates, who had just arrived. Sora stepped through the Senkaimon behind the last stragglers, quickly praising and dismissing us.

The students scattered to various areas, Ichigo and I returning to the comforts of our tree. "Ichi, I'm taking a nap. Wake me up for dinner, will ya?" He shook his head in amusement but agreed. I leaned against the tree, but it wasn't comfortable enough for my taste. I scooted away from Ichigo, with a quiet noise of protest from him, before leaning down and using Ichigo's head as a pillow.

He twisted for a moment, trying to get himself comfortable and then relaxing. Fingers threaded through my hair, pulling gently at the snow-white strands. I purred quietly at the nice feeling that was quickly putting me to sleep. My eyes fluttered shut and I curled into a ball, head still on my 'pillow'.

The soft gentle fingers in my hair were the last thing I registered before allowing the blackness of sleep embrace me.

* * *

Rukia knocked and slid the door to her Captain's office open.

"Ukitake Taichou?"

Ukitake looked up from the paperwork he was signing on his desk with a questioning look gracing his tired features.

"Yes, Rukia?"

Rukia skittered closer to his desk, wringing her hands worriedly.

"Ukitake Taichou, Ichigo graduates from the Academy in a month. Do you know what squad he is going into? If he hasn't been assigned to a squad, perhaps he could come into ours? Just temporarily of course!"

Ukitake listened seriously to her suggestion, but when she was finished he leaned back in his chair with a sigh, and ran thin fingers through his long white hair. Kurosaki. He was the talk of all the captains meetings.

"Kurosaki has not yet been assigned a squad, same with his brother. We have spent many a captain's meeting debating where he should go. Renji thinks he should have him because they used to be friends, Kenpachi wants him for a fighting buddy, Kurotsuchi wants to experiment on him, Byakuya wants him so he can 'keep an eye on him'. Rukia, I honestly don't know what squad he is going to go to. The Captain-Commander has been thinking it over for a few weeks. I have a feeling he will be sent to either Hitsugaya's or my own squad."

Ukitake placed a hand Rukia's shoulder. "Do not stress over it. No matter where he goes, he will be in good hands. And we know Kurosaki. He'll stand up for himself if he thinks something isn't right."

Rukia smiled wistfully, thinking back to all the memories of Ichigo and his stubborn attitude. She hoped it had carried on into his afterlife; it may have been annoying, but it was what made Ichigo so special.

"Thank you, Captain Ukitake. I'm sorry if I interrupted anything. I'll be going now."

"You're very welcome Rukia. Go get a good night's rest."

Rukia bowed out, thinking already to the graduation of the 6th years at the academy. She closed her eyes in anticipation. She saw this as her chance to reconnect with Ichigo, and maybe not feel so guilty and indebted to him. Truly, all of Soul Society was in his debt, but he no longer knew that. She wondered if it was better that Soul Society had blocked off access to his own memories.

'_Hopefully that won't backfire on them. All Soul Society needs is Ichigo as an enemy.'_

Rukia stepped out of the 13th squad barracks, and turned her feet in the direction of the 5th squad. She wanted to talk to her childhood friend Renji, and find out his thoughts on this.

* * *

**Aren't you guys so happy to find out about Shiro's Zanpakutou? I know I am! Or, I guess so anyway. **

**I made it so Ichi and Shiro can seal their Zanpakutou. I mean, they learned (mostly) how to control their reiatsu. **

**So, Translations are in order!**

**Taiyo no Ryu=Sun's Dragon (according to google translate XD) Shikai looks like Zangetsu's, just slightly thinner and with a different cloth.**

**Akuma no Doku=Devil's Venom (also according to google translate). Similar to Getsuga Tensho**

**Don't bother me about the similar appearances. And powers. They ARE twins XP Shiro's Akuma no Doku is better than Getsuga Tensho, in my opinion. You guys will find out why it's called ''Devil's Venom'' eventually. But his bankai...I love his bankai :) **

**And I'm up for beta-ing now guys, so yea...do with that info as you will :)**

**Review with your thoughts on this chapter, and Taiyo no Ryu! I want to know what you guys think of him!**

**Til next time!**


	9. Ah, Squad Life

**Hehehe! I'm BAACCKK! Didja miss me? -crickets- You guys are so mean! T-T Sorry it took so long to update! I lost inspiration for this for a few days, but after pulling up a blank document and writing the first few words, everything totally clicked for me :D YAY! **

**So theres a bit of a time skip-aka AFTER grad. I'm gonna say about a month. Ish.**

**Review Replies:**

**Sasuke Uzamaki9999: ****Haha of course you are XD Even though this has no pairings, except a little IchiTatsu at the beginning. If you can be patient for a few more days, I MIGHT be posting a little bit of a lime in one of my new stories...Tch. I might add smut to Taming the Demon if you review how you like the lime in that story-you'll know when it gets published. Alright...you hate her...I got it...don't worry, theres no IchiRuki in this. I dont like that pairing anyway -.-**

**Animelover1993: ****I'm glad its incurable XD I openly embrace my laziness, and you should too! Hah! I'm glad you liked that part! I love Taiyo too :) I'll probably be bringing the 2 Zanpakutous into this story a lot more, and even though I'm not the best at writing humor, I'll do my best ^_^ No bankai yet. Not next chapter either. I dunno when...**

* * *

Pants burst from his mouth as he raced down the hall, glancing down doors as he went. _'Which one, which one which on- Aha!'_

He skittered to a halt and stood for a moment to catch his breath before knocking gently on the door and announcing who it was. A voice similar to his own answered, except the pitch was a bit higher. The newly ranked soul reaper opened the sliding door, and was immediately tackled.

"Dammit Shiro! What the hell was that for?" demanded Ichigo as he glared at his friend, who was also a Shinigami like himself.

Said friend, Shiro, pouted. "Awww, are you unhappy to see me? No, that wouldn't make sense, would it? You're the one who came to visit me! What's gotcha upset, Ichi?"

"Maybe the fact that you totally just _tackled _me." Ichigo replied stiffly, squirming to try and get up, but Shiro was too heavy to move by himself.

"That wasn't a tackle as much as a glomp," muttered the albino, standing from his position that had kept Ichigo pinned to the ground, and brushed himself off.

Ichigo's eyebrow quirked. "A glomp? What the hell is that?"

Shiro chuckled. "Apparently it's a really popular human thing. Abarai Taichou taught it to me. I'm surprised he likes me so much. Maybe I'll get transferred to his squad," he explained excitedly.

"Get me transferred too. I like Captain Hitsugaya's squad and all but it's just...boring. And Lieutenant Matsumoto scares the hell out of me. She keeps trying to flash me. When she's not doing that, she's giving me hugs that I nearly suffocate from. I swear, she's so skinny 'cause all the food she eats goes to her breasts. I'm trying to keep what innocence I have left, ya know? Captain Abarai's squad is probably a lot more fun. And he still doesn't have a lieutenant since they made Ex Lieutenant Hinamori 'retire'. I bet they sent her to the loony bin," Ichigo said, scowling.

"Ukitake Taichou's squad is nuts. Kuchiki Fukutaichou keeps staring at me like I'm a disappointment or that she's expecting something completely else out of me, the 2 third seats _are _nuts, and Captain Ukitake is in the 4th squad barracks more often than not. Don't get me wrong; it's awesome being a fourth seat in the 13th squad, but damn! How's it in the 10th squad?"

"Boring. As. Shit," Ichigo retorted, merely repeating what he said earlier, in shorter form.

"Well I don't think Toshiro would really appreciate that response, _Ichigo_," a rough new voice joined the conversation.

"C-captain Abarai!" Both boys exclaimed, quickly bowing, before Renji scoffed and waved at them to stand back up.

"No need to be formal, guys. Relax."

"T-Thanks Captain," stuttered Shiro.

Renji merely rolled his eyes before beckoning to the two boys.

"C'mon, I got permission from both your captains to work on training with you guys. You have potential. I may have to see if I can get you transferred over to Squad 5."

The 2 look-a-likes exchanged grins, before following the captain out of the squad 13 barracks towards the squad 5 training grounds.

* * *

Clang!

Sparks scattered as the 2 shikais clashed, their wielders glaring at the other, daring the other to try and beat him. Sweat dripped onto a temple from the cover of orange hair, while sweat rolled down a nose from its shelter in white hair.

They pushed each other back, managing to get 10 feet between them, before darting forward again to try and get the upper hand. Pale hands brought the black clothed cleaver down in a hacking motion, and a battle cry bubbled to his lips.

Tanned hands twisted to bring a larger cleaver to meet the other. The sparring sped up, until shunpo was used to the point where they couldn't be seen by anyone below 5th seat level.

"That's right guys, keep going, you're doing great! Ichigo, that doesn't mean you can slow down! Stop hesitating Shiro! Are you guys Soul Reapers or amateurs? You're pathetic!" Renji taunted the 2, knowing Ichigo would react by fighting more fiercely towards Shiro, but he wasn't quite sure about Shiro, since he hadn't seen him before he died.

But they were twins. So, they probably would have similar reactions.

Naturally, that was wrong.

They instantly stopped fighting, to Renji's surprise, and Shiro dropped down from his position in the air to stand level with the captain and frown at him. "Sorry _Captain,_ I didn't quite catch that?"

Renji smirked, covering his earlier surprise. These two were so easy. "You. Are. Pathetic. Excuses. For. Soul. Reapers."

Shiro's grip tightened around his Zanpakutou. "Care to test that judgement, Taichou?" Shiro retorted, venom lacing his words.

Renji was surprised at the subtle threat, but merely pushed away his shock to sneer at the albino. "Like you could beat me! I'm a captain _with _a bankai and nearly 70 (1) years of experience. _You_ are soul reapers just out of the academy with _only _shikais, and 3 years of experience, if you can call it that. You don't stand a chance!" _'Anymore,'_ he added in his head. Ichigo could've easily kicked his ass before he died.

"So you think you can beat us just because you have a bankai? That's utter bullshit. Stay in your shikai, and I'll stay in mine, and let's go. Whoever wins gets to go against Ichi over there," Shiro challenged excitedly, a shit eating grin adorning his face.

"Hey! Why do you get to go first?" demanded Ichigo stubbornly, scowling deeper than normal.

Shiro flipped his head backwards and upside down to look at Ichigo. "Cause, partner, I thought of it first. You'll get your chance. You can go first next time, how 'bout that?"

Ichigo snorted, but relented, leaping back onto the edge of the little canyon that was the training guards, and taking a seat.

Renji and Shiro faced each other, spiky hairdos blowing in the wind as Shiro waited for Renji to activate his shikai, while Renji was waiting for Shiro to explode from impatience and tell him to start already. It didn't take long.

"Hurry the hell up! I want to start this fight!" Shiro shouted with his eyes narrowed angrily.

Renji shrugged. "That's not how you speak to a Captain, Haku. And I'll start whenever the hell I want!"

Shiro growled at the use of his real name, but said nothing, glaring daggers at the red-haired soul reaper.

Renji chuckled, pulling Zabimaru from the sheath on his waist. "Roar, Zabimaru!" he shouted, rubbing his hand across the dull side of the katana, changing it into a long, spiked sword, that he knew was connected with stretchy wires. (2)

Shiro tossed up Taiyo no Ryu, grabbing the black cloth halfway down and swinging it above his head, smirking at the Captain's surprised look at the strange technique.

"What, never seen this before? Probably not. I taught it to myself. I figured it out just the other day. You and Ichigo are the first ones to see it," he boasted, jerking his head towards the strawberry when mentioning him.

Aforementioned strawberry was grabbing his head in pain as images flashed behind his closed eyelids, biting back cries of pain as his brain went into information overload.

The images flew by, but suddenly, they slowed, and turned into a video. It was fuzzy, and dark, and hard to concentrate on, as if what was happening had been seen through thick sunglasses. Concentrating too hard made his head ache.

He picked Shiro out of the 'video'. He was wearing an inverted shihakusho, oddly enough, and was standing on a..._blue sideways building..._

'_What...the hell...'s this about?' _Ichigo questioned himself weakly, watching what was happening. Or what_ happened_ rather. It felt more like a memory than anything.

He 'watched' Shiro toss up a- '_A white Zangetsu? There's no such thing...And why's he using Zangetsu...he has Taiyo...'_

Then the 'memory' Shiro began to spin the inverted Zangetsu in circles, sneering and taunting him. Then the image changed, but he saw Shiro again. This time, he had on a different shihakusho, still white, mind you, but this time holding a white long-sword with a chain hanging off the end. The hilt was white with red diamonds weaved in the cloth.

Then Ichigo noticed the 'memory' Shiro's eyes. '_Gold and black...hollow eyes!' _He realized choking quietly. _'But Shiro's not a hollow! He's a Soul Reaper! W-What's going on? I don't understand! What Zanpakutou is he holding? Is this a figment of my imagination? This has never happened while we've been in Soul Society!'_

'_**Ichigo, stop. Do not burden yourself with these thoughts right now. You will understand in time, I promise.' **_The voice of Zangetsu floated to Ichigo's consciousness, bringing his mind off of the images he had seen, and back to the fight in front of him.

'_Al-Alright Zangetsu. I trust you. But I will find out what that meant eventually.' _Ichigo assured his Zanpakutou.

'_**Yes, you will, Ichigo,'**_murmured Zangetsu ominously before disappearing back into the depths of his soul.

Ichigo took a staggering breath, before turning his eyes back to Shiro and the Captain's fight. They were both doing well; Renji was facing him, unlike Shiro, who was, once again, spinning Taiyo no Ryu around. Ichigo's mind automatically thought back to what he just 'saw' but he pushed it away.

They were both toying with each other; Renji was swinging Zabimaru in Shiro's direction; Shiro simply jumped out of the way. Ichigo growled impatiently. He still wanted to fight too.

"Hurry up, or else I won't have a chance to fight either." He shouted commandingly.

"Ease up, Ichi, we'll go serious now, so don't get your panties in a wad," Shiro teased him, telling Renji to hold off for a moment while he turned to look at Ichigo, gold and white eyes glinting amusedly. Ichigo couldn't help but let the memory version of Shiro flash in front of his eyes. Instead of his best friend in front of him, he saw the sneering, mocking face of the _hollow _from that scene. Contempt glittered in those gold black eyes, but also another emotion, one that Ichigo couldn't quite figure out...

Ichigo blinked, realizing the Captain Abarai and Shiro were fighting again. Shiro rose up Taiyo, and swung it down in an arc. "Akuma no Doku!" He shouted, and condensed reiatsu flew from the tip of Taiyo no Ryu, hitting Renji square in the chest.

Renji stood, shaking it off. He'd been hit by Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou all the time. This 'Akuma no Doku' was exactly the same. That was his assessment...

At least until his skin started to sizzle slightly, and pain laced up his chest. He rubbed the heel of his hand against his chest in a fruitless attempt to soothe the acid-like pain. He cried out when it didn't work, lifting his head to send the albino soul reaper a panicky glare.

"What the hell is this, Tsukino?" He demanded, his ignorance only fuelling his fear.

Shiro spun Taiyo lazily. "That would be what my Akuma no Doku does. Devil's venom? Yup. It's just like its name, though the effects of the pain normally wear off around 20-30 seconds after the attack. But that's all I really need to end a fight, ya know?"

"What the hell does it do, anyway?" Renji asked, calmer now that he knew what was going on, and by now, the pain was definitely fading.

"Well, it's like Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou, except that it has an extra little bite. The yellow on the reiatsu actually is like an acid; once it hits your skin, it burns you, until the little time limit kicks in. Simple as that," explained Shiro lazily.

Now that the pain of the 'venom' was gone, Renji could only feel the pain of the actual injury; it felt exactly like how the Getsuga was. Renji cocked his head to the side, amused by all the similarities by these two twins; how they didn't realize they weren't twins was probably because of their stupidity-mostly Ichigo's, though.

"Hey, Captain, if ya just stand there, I'll kill ya," teased Shiro, who was already stepping back into his stance, watching Renji expectantly. Renji shifted the same way, and the fight started up again.

* * *

"I told you guys to hurry up and finish your fight so I could go before it got dark but what happened? It got dark! And guess who didn't get to fight! Ichigo Kurosaki!" Ichigo ranted as he walked alongside Shiro and Renji as they made their way towards the Squad 5 cafeteria/eating area.

Shiro groaned. "Thank you, _Ichigo Kurosaki, _for clarifying this for the 3rd time. _We get it._ Ichigo wanted to fight. Ichigo didn't _get _to fight. Ichigo is pissed. Ichigo complains _a lot_ when he's pissed. So what does that make? An annoyed Shiro and Captain Abarai."

"Well you deserve it, _Haku Tsukino_! I warned you guys and-"

"Oh shut up Ichigo, and tell it to someone who cares," Renji interrupted, much to Ichigo's annoyance.

"What if I don't _want_ to shut up? Just because I can't kick your ass anymore doesn't mean anything, Renji!" Ichigo retorted angrily.

Renji froze midstride. He slowly set down the lifted foot, but didn't meet the curious gazes of the long-lost brothers in front of him. _'He couldn't have remembered! Soul Society put a block on his memories! Everything from then should just be a blank!' _He thought to himself, panicking inwardly. He wanted the old Ichigo back, not this authority respecting one that he was stuck with, so when he heard his given name said by his old friend, it had shocked him greatly. But if it came at the cost of recovering his memories, which might have happened judging by the 'anymore' in his shout...that wasn't good. Soul Society would _not _be happy.

"Excuse me, Kurosaki? What did you call me?" Renji asked quietly.

Ichigo thought back on what he had said, and his eyes widened as he realized his 'mistake'. He immediately bowed, his eyes staring at the floor. "Please, forgive me, Abarai Taichou! It was an accident, and will not happen again!"

When Ichigo didn't get a response, he straightened slowly out of the bow, and lifted his eyes to look at the red-haired captain. The captain was gazing at him emotionlessly. The facade broke for a moment revealing disappointment, and...Was that sadness? Hurt? Both? Why would Captain Abarai feel like that?

"Don't worry about it, Ichigo. Let's go get some food," Renji responded wearily, as if he had aged greatly in the past 20 seconds, and continued leading the way towards the food. Ichigo and Shiro followed; the latter had remained silent throughout the entire exchange, pondering both responses, though he couldn't come up with any idea on what it could mean.

For some reason, watching Ichigo bow to Captain Abarai apologetically really grated against him. Yet he didn't know why. Ichigo had to do that, like all the other Soul Reapers, so why did it affect Shiro so much whenever _Ichigo _did it? It just felt like such a weird image. Like it wasn't normal_._

'_But it is,'_ he argued with himself. They'd been doing that since getting out of the Academy a few months ago.

'_What do you think, Taiyo?'_ Shiro questioned his Zanpakutou, hoping that maybe he would have an idea.

'_**You will figure out soon enough, Haku.'**_ The Zanpakutou murmured, sounding very out of character saying his real name unlike what he normally called him; Shi or Shiro.

Shiro went to question the spirit again, but he felt him go into the depths of his soul, and gave up, silently following Ichigo and the Captain as they turned into the room with the food.

Shiro broke out of his reverie to grab a plate and pile some food on it, following his companions' examples, and settled down at a table with the 2, who were still awkwardly silent.

Man, Mondays suck

* * *

The next day, we got our transfer papers for Squad 5. Captain Hitsugaya was reluctant to let Ichigo go to Captain Abarai's squad, but eventually allowed him. When Captain Ukitake found out that I was going to be in the same squad as Ichigo, he smiled, but refused to tell me why, and signed that I could transfer, recommending me to be a 3rd or 4th seat.

Ichigo and I met up outside the squad 5 barracks and decided to share a room, since that's what we'd done for most of our lives in Soul Society. By the time we were completely moved in, and our transfers were granted, it was late at night, and both of us collapsed onto our beds.

Silence hung in the air for a while, before Ichigo tentatively broke it.

"Hey Shiro?"

"Hmm?"

"Do...do you ever think about what happened in your human life?" He asked me hesitantly.

I pondered that for a moment, before replying. "Not really. You know me. I'm not really a live in the past kind of person. I live for the present, and spare the future a quick glance. What happened when we were 'alive' isn't really a big deal, ya know?"

Ichigo mulled over my response for a moment, thinking over the words. "But...don't you just wonder if you had a family? Don't you wonder if maybe you were a really great person then, but now you can't remember it? Or that now you're completely different than you used to be? I managed to get Hitsugaya to tell me that I lived in a place called Karakura town. Apparently I died by getting hit by a truck. Wonderful way to die, huh?"

I chuckled. Ichigo, one of the Shinigami Academy's prodigies, dying because he got hit by a truck.

"I suppose you're lucky someone told you about how you died. Ukitake refused to tell me, saying it was pointless to think about the past. And then I asked him if he remembered his human life..." I trailed off, unsure if Ichigo wanted to know about what I'd found out.

"And?" He pushed me to finish my sentence.

"Apparently he does, but he's lived so long that he can't really pick out certain parts; that it's all a blur. But, we've only lived in Soul Society for a few years; why have we forgotten our pasts? Everyone I asked remembers...but why not us?"

Ichigo sighed, brushing orange locks out of the way of his face. "I don't know. But sometimes, I feel like I'm about to remember something important from that time. It's like when you want to say something, and it's on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't get yourself to say or remember what it is. And I keep seeing weird stuff..." It was orange-haired soul reaper's turn to trail off, but he did it to keep himself from telling the events he'd seen; he didn't want to think Shiro was _ever _a hollow. But was that his past?

I exhaled slowly, just staring up at the ceiling of our room, wondering if Ichigo would say anything else. Then I remembered something.

"If I'm right, the winter war was going on while we were still alive. What do you think we were doing when that happened?"

Ichigo shrugged, but didn't look at me. "I'm not sure. I was probably around 15 or 16 so I was probably doing something pointless. It's weird to think Soul Society's saviour was our age at the time, huh?"

Frowning, I finally turned to look at him. "Have you noticed that no one mentions his name? They only say he was one of the greatest Soul Reapers of all time. But apparently, he was just a substitute; not even a full Shinigami. They also say he died..." Something clicked in my head.

"Ichi!" I called his name excitedly, sitting up to stare at him. He glanced over, curious, and rolled his eyes at my excited expression.

"Yes, Shiro?"

"Soul Society history says the saviour was just a substitute, right?"

Ichigo sat up, wondering where this was going, but decided to humour me. "Yes..."

"That means he was probably a human with Shinigami powers, _right_?"

Ichigo's eyebrows scrunched in thought. "It makes sense." He admitted slowly, unsurely.

"And they say he died, right?"

Ichigo snorted impatiently. "_Yes Shiro,_ now what the hell are you getting at?"

"Touchy, touchy. Patience is a virtue. But that means he's here in Soul Society! He's probably in one of the squads right now! Soul Society would immediately get him to go through the academy when he died, and then put him in the squads! We should find out who he is since no one will tell us!" I told him my thoughts excitedly. A nice mystery would brighten this boring place up real quick.

Ichigo chuckled, but agreed that it _would _be really cool to find out who saved the Soul Society's asses so long ago.

"Alright, let's do it."

"We'll have to go to the 12th squad's library tomorrow. We can tell Captain Abarai that we need a few days to adjust to the change, and that we can go back on duty soon after. We can do research and find out what Soul Society is hiding."

Ichigo grinned, reached over and clapping my hand in a handshake. "Sounds good, partner. Let's do it. But first, sleep."

I nodded, reaching over to flip off the light switch, emptying the little room of the fluorescent glow.

"Night Ichi!" I whispered excitedly.

A sleepy chuckle was my only reply, before a little murmur wishing me a good night drifted to my ears. My eyes shut, and I willed myself to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.

* * *

**1- I have absolutely NO idea how old Renji is. So I'm just totally making up a number XD Woo for imagination! –makes a rainbow with hands like Spongebob-**

**2- That's what I think of when I see Zabimaru in shikai. That it's connected by stretchy wire-like things. Shut up, and don't flame if I'm wrong. Simply tell me, and I shall correct my mistake :P**

**So, is this chapter suitable for you guys? Clear up some questions? Is anyone else amused by the fact that theyre basically gonna be researching themselves? Seems vain huh? Why am I asking all these questions? Does anyone care? XD**

**Review, and it'll inspire me to update sooner -hint- -hint-**

**I only got 2 reviews last time (dont get me wrong, I totally appreciated that guys!) but come on! You can do better! -points finger in your face- REVIEW! **


	10. Confusing Findings & A Promotion

**See you guys, I am alive! And I'm so so so sorrrry for taking this long to update! But I am no longer grounded! Time to celebrate! I'm hoping to update all my other multi-chap fics very soon, but I have multiple oneshots that are trying to get finished, and I really want to get those out of the way, so no guarantees. **

**Review Replies:**

**Sasuke Uzamaki9999:**** Hm, that makes sense. Cable does sound right. I'll eventually go back and fix that...XD Do you really think I'd do that? I have to drag out the story a little longer to watch all my dear readers get pissed and try to castrate me XP**

**DarkDragonQueen0****: Why hello there! Nice to see a new penname in my review box :) T'was quite happy seeing your review! I'm glad you like it! I'm looking forward to writing that part! Quite a bit XD**

**Whitespiderlilly:**** Irony is beautiful, isn't it? **

**Animelover1993:**** Oh...well I didn't mean to make you almost die...my bad...and I'm a girl XD Yea, it pretty much is a conspiracy. Poor suckers. Yea, you guys will find out...eventually.**

**Kai-Chan94-**** Why thank you! :D**

**Thunder Claw03****: Don't worry, it's already been determined. No couple between Ichi and Shiro. S'all good. Oh, NOW you're asking me to make couples, but not yaoi couples? Well damn. XD I'll see what I can do. And I'm not planning to do the Vizard thing with Shiro and Ichi. It's too...unoriginal for my tastes. **

**Yami-no-Tamashii****- Hahaha! No, no incest, I apologize XD It's a bit awkward for me to write. This story has a mind of its own, but I can keep enough control over it to prevent incest. It's simply fluffy brotherly love ^_^**

**Lots of reviews guys! Thanks so much! I looked over some of my old chapters, and I realized there are SOOO many mistakes. Ah, the price of being unbeta'd. Oh well.**

**Anyway, tune in to the note at the bottom. Very **IMPORTANT** info down there. I apologize in advance for the short chapter...**

* * *

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Damnit, will you quit that already?"

"Nope!"

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! SMACK!

"Ow, fuck! What was that for Ichi?" I demanded, holding my wounded cheek with one hand, glaring at Ichigo with what I could only hope looked like a pout.

"Cause you were annoying the hell out of me." Ichigo replied simply, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. I scowled darkly, ignoring the hand he offered to me and pushing myself up off the ground where I had fallen.

"Let's just go already," I said stiffly, my shoulders tensed angrily. Ichigo chuckled, but when I felt his reiatsu move in my direction, I knew he was following. Then the reiatsu sped up towards me, and I heard the small sound of a jump, and then extra weight was added to my back.

"C'mon Shi, lighten up! Now, TO THE LIBRARY!" Ichigo shouted in my ear from his position, pointing his finger in the direction of the 12th squad. My mood instantly brightened into amusement as I gave Ichigo a piggy-back ride, and expanded my step into shunpo.

The landscape flew by in a whirl; I could feel Ichigo instinctively clutching to me tighter, using me to block the wind from hitting his face. My eye rolled of their own accord, and as soon as we got to the library, I released my arms from around his legs, and the orange head landed to the ground with a growl.

He stood, rubbing his backside from the harsh landing, sending me a half-hearted glare. "Thanks. I appreciate that." He said sarcastically.

It was my turn to shrug at him. "Simply payback. And you sitting on my back was _annoying the hell out of me_," I taunted, winking cheekily as I parroted him from earlier.

He simply mumbled incoherently before trekking into the library, his feet stomping angrily onto the ground. I chuckled, but followed, cheerfully whistling in rhythm to my steps.

I stepped easily through the doors, which had just been shut in my face courtesy of a pouting orange head, and I couldn't help but stare. The room was huge, and you couldn't see the wall. There were just too many bookcases. I trotted after Ichigo who was walking to a platform that stuck out over the center of the room, which was, amusing as it was, in the middle of the air.

The screens were brightly lit and buzzing quietly. He immediately began typing on the touch screen, and I peeked over his shoulder to look.

"History of Soul Society, eh? Don't you think that's a bit broad? I mean, Head Captain Yamamoto is over 2,000 years old. So maybe put in Soul Society and choose a year. That'll narrow it down a bit." I suggested quietly, just in case the orange head was still holding a grudge.

"Makes sense." He deleted what he wrote earlier and typed in a new search, and pressed enter. About 5 books came up, and I instantly pressed the print button, which would print the information of each book out.

"I'll take these 2, and you can take the others," I told him, ripping the paper in half and giving one to him. He gingerly held it, examining the titles and locations before nodding.

"Let me know if you see anything, ok Shi?"

I mock saluted him with a shout of "Yes Sir!" to which he responded with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, before jumping off the side of the platform to get to the lower floors.

"Have fun!" I called over the side, before choosing a book which was up a few levels. I leaped upwards, gathering reishi beneath my feet to propel myself farther up. When I got to the floor I needed, I started my search.

* * *

About two hours later, the look-a-likes got back together on the main level of the library, and compared results.

"Well, I found the right time period, and there was a ton of information about the Winter War. The book talked about how Aizen kept a few Captains, lieutenants, the Savior and the Savior's friends trapped in Hueco Mundo while he went to the fake Karakura town to make the key. Then it says that he defeated all of his opponents, with the help of his Espada, Gin, and Tousen, who died in a fight with Komamura Taicho and Hisagi fukutaicho. Then, right before Aizen attacked Urahara, Yoruichi, and someone named Isshin Kurosaki, the Savior appeared. Then it goes on about how Aizen defeated them all except the savior, and escaped to Soul Society. Then, Isshin Kurosaki recovered, and helped bring the Savior to the Precipice World, where his Zanpakutou taught him a new skill, something called a "Final Getsuga Tensho", which the Savior used to defeat Aizen, but ultimately took his powers away," Shiro reported as he sat across from Ichigo, who growled in frustration, before his eyes widened slightly.

"Shiro...did you say Isshin Kurosaki?" The orange haired Soul Reaper asked, his voice quiet as his fists clenched slightly.

Shiro tilted his head to the side, after giving a nod of an affirmative answer, before his mouth widened in understanding.

"That's your last name, isn't it, Ichi? I'd forgotten. I wonder if you're related?"

Ichigo shrugged, before comprehending something else that Shiro had said. "The Savior used a 'Final Getsuga Tensho', right?"

Shiro caught on much faster this time, eyes lighting up excitedly, before his eyebrows scrunched together again.

"Ichi...I don't like this. Not a single bit. Soul Society is hiding something. The fact that we can't remember anything is just the tip of the iceberg, I think. What do we have to do with the Savior? Maybe-"

"Hey you guys!" A deep voice greeted, and Ichigo and Shiro broke off their conversation to stare at their new companion. The blue haired Soul Reaper sweatdropped, stepping back from the irritated glances the doppelgangers were shooting him.

"What is it, Grimmjow? We're kind of busy." Ichigo intoned, before standing to glare at the newcomer.

"Fine, someone's touchy today. I just wanted to let you know that Captain Abarai is looking for you. He's in his office. Dunno why he sent me, but I just happened to walk by, so I turned into a messenger." Grimmjow shrugged, turning around to walk back out of the library without waiting for a response. Ichigo and Shiro simply blinked owlishly before gathering their books and putting them away quickly and meeting back up at the door.

"Ichigo, I think we should find out who this 'Isshin Kurosaki' is. From the stories, it sounds like he knew what the Getsuga Tensho was, so maybe he'll know the connection between us and the Savior. And maybe he'll know what's going on with Soul Society. I read somewhere else that he was exiled, so that rules out Soul Society. He must either live in the World of the Living or Hueco Mundo." Shiro murmured as they shut the library doors behind them and started walking toward the Squad 5 barracks.

"That makes sense, Shiro, but how in the hell are we going to get to Hueco Mundo or the World of the Living? Someone would notice! If Isshin really does have a connection with me, maybe he lives in that town I lived in! What was it called...Karakura, I think. Damn it, this is really complicated. My head hurts. There are way too many maybes in this." Ichigo complained, rubbing his orange locks soothingly, hoping to rid himself off an oncoming headache.

Shiro smiled sympathetically, but shook his head slowly, white locks bouncing jovially. "Ichi, this is just...ugh. Nevermind. Let's worry about this later. Duty calls," Shiro quipped with a weary smile, before brightening and shooting Ichigo a wink and shunpoing off.

"See ya there, Ichi, ya little slow poke!" Ichigo bristled at the departing words and quickly extended his step into Shunpo, moving swiftly to catch up with the taller Reaper.

They stopped in front of Captain Abarai's office, panting ever so slightly, before straightening and knocking on the door, announcing who it was. They obeyed the loud, 'come in,' and stood in front of Captain Abarai's desk.

Renji looked up, gazing at Ichigo with a nostalgic look to his face, before quickly wiping it clean and handing them both a packet, which the two squad-less Soul Reapers ripped open.

Ichigo ripped the manila folder off, much to the amusement of the others in the office, the contents of which left him open mouthed and staring at the papers in amazement and delight. Shiro quickly followed suit, and his expression contorted to match Ichigo's. Renji bit back a snicker, and sat back to wait who would speak first.

"Sh-shiro-" Ah, so it would be Ichigo first, "-I'm a lieutenant in Squad 6! That's so awesome!"

Shiro nodded quickly, still watching his promotion papers as if they were going to explode into flame, or someone was going to pop out and tell him it was all a joke.

"I'm a lieutenant for Squad 5," his voice came out strangled, but happy sounding.

"Since all the captains can tell you two want to stick together, and that you are stronger that way too, you are being given a separate barrack on the edge of the Seireitei. Some other people who are obviously extremely close may join you. Obviously, you must be able to get to your squads quickly should anything happen, and you are only allowed to be there for sleeping. Hanging out there is strictly forbidden, as you may be needed elsewhere. Understand?"

The look-a-likes nodded determinedly, immediately understanding why they were being told to do this. Renji sighed and rubbed a hand through his bright red hair, before dismissing Ichigo, telling him to report to Captain Kuchiki, and then shooing Shiro away, informing him to go get settled in his new barrack. Shiro nodded happily, before disappearing quietly, and Renji once again sat back. He rested a hand over his eyes, biting back the sadness of still having to keep up this facade of normalcy, when all he wanted was to remove Ichigo's memory bind himself so they could be friends like they used to be.

It just sucks that not everything can go your way.

* * *

****IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW****

**There is a poll on my profile at this moment, and will be up until about 2 weeks after I update Taming the Demon...which will be I-Don't-Know-When. I've discovered I can't keep up with updating 4 different stories at once, and keep you all happy at the same time. So, I'm taking a poll to see what you guys want me to continue. I'll put all my stories besides one or 2 on hold until those are finished, and then continue the hiatus'ed ones. So please, go and vote, especially if you want this story to continue. Cause let me tell you, this story is currently in last place. So go and vote everyone! **

**I love you all, and am so extremely sorry about my grounding, and the chaos before that. I'm going to work hard to try and keep up regular updates. **

**Until Next Time!**


	11. A New Mission

***hangs head* Words cannot even express how sorry I am about my slow updates. This got second on the poll, so it's not a priority like TTD, but I got inspiration for it about a week or two ago. So here we are with an update, the longest one yet:)**

**Review replies are at the bottom!**

**Standard disclaimers apply, like always. **

**Oh, and I looked back on previous chapters, and it's amazing how much my writing has changed. Once I finish up this story, I'm going back and editing. My writing was awful last year. Bleh. Anyway, Enjoy! :)**

* * *

The captains stood stock straight, looking ahead with glazed eyes as the Soutaichou rambled about inconsequential things. On the old man's right, in order, were Soifon, Unohana, Byakuya, Kyouraku, Hitsugaya and Kurotsuchi. Across from them were Ikkaku who was the new captain of the 3rd squad, Renji, Komamura, Hisagi who was the new captain of the 9th squad, Kenpachi, and Ukitake. Kenpachi was making faces at Ikkaku, who just jokingly glared back in return. Hitsugaya was attempting to quell the childish urge to freeze the Soutaichou's lips together so he would shut up. The other captains simply stood in their place, not speaking, until they noticed Yamamoto was turning toward more important topics.

"Captain Kurotsuchi. Have you confirmed the appearance of a hollow in Karakura town?"

Kurotsuchi snapped out of his slight daze and turned his head to look at the 1st division captain. "Yes, the 12th division has. It turned up yesterday around midnight, according to our readings."

The Captain Commander's brows furrowed and hit grip tightened on his disguised Zanpakutou. "Any victims?"

"A young boy, around the age of 4."

"Please excuse my interruption, Soutaichou, but hollows make an appearance in Karakura all the time. We have patrols there for a reason. Why is this case any different?" Komamura asked, wolfish eyes glittering with confusion and curiosity.

"Kurotsuchi Taichou."

"Yes, Soutaichou. This hollow is one from about 10 years ago. It terrorized Karakura town and eluded our capture. Ichigo Kurosaki was still alive at the time and teamed up with Kuchiki Fukutaichou on killing it, but it disappeared before they were able to purify it. This particular hollow has remained off of our radars ever since and we all assumed it was dead, until late last night it suddenly appeared again and killed a young boy. I wish I could get my hands on this hollow and discover what its powers are, but no one has captured it. Or even glimpsed it!" Kurotsuchi growled and clenched his hands, but immediately gained control of himself when the Captain Commander waved at him to be silent.

"We need to send out a group of high level Shinigami to get rid of this menace once and for all, before more victims are killed. Most of the victims are young children. Who do we nominate to send?"

Nobody spoke, leading Hitsugaya to sigh and step forward. "I will go with a small group of others."

Yamamoto immediately shook his head. "We need high level Shinigami, but we also need to keep our captains here to maintain the peace. Lieutenants and 3rd seats would be our best option."

Renji's face lit up and he stepped forward. "Soutaichou, this is the perfect opportunity to test the Kurosaki twins!"

All of the captains had a visible reaction to this, most just staring at Renji in shock, while others gasped.

"Explain yourself, Abarai Taichou."

"Well, some people have been doubtful about the Soul Society's ability to block memories. Most Soul Reapers know that the Kurosaki twins have had their memories blocked. So if we send them to their hometown and they don't recover their memories, then we quiet those rumors, we don't need to hold our breath for the day when they get their memories back, and the options for them mission-wise would be endless! Also, the 5th and 6th squads have gone without lieutenants for a while; a few more weeks can't hurt. "

"And if they recover their memories?"

Renji silently wished for this to happen, but on the outside, he merely shrugged. "Then we capture them and block their memories again. Easy as taking cake from a baby, as the humans say."

"I believe you mean 'Easy as taking _candy _from a baby, Renji," Ikkaku corrected with a grin. Renji waved him off uncaringly, a grin still on his face.

Yamamoto was obviously pondering the advantages and disadvantages of this idea, but Renji could tell his idea was brilliant. He didn't get ideas like this very often, but when they came, they always worked.

"Fine, Captain Abarai. Inform Ichigo Kurosaki and Haku Tsukino that they will be sent out on this mission tomorrow morning. Captains, this meeting is dismissed. Go back to your divisions."

Renji mentally cheered and he rushed out of the meeting room and shunpoed down the hallway, making his way to the barrack that Ichigo and Shiro were assigned to. It was early in the morning, and they would be waking up in the next few minutes.

A flash was his only signal and he leaped back as his former captain suddenly appeared in his path, and Renji blew to stop, eyes wide with surprise.

"Kuchiki Taichou, what are-"

"That was purposeful, wasn't it, Renji?" Byakuya interrupted passively. Renji looked closer and he thought he almost saw _amusement _glittering in the 6th squad captain's eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go inform my subordinate of his new mission."

"And I'll join you. I need to brief my subordinate as well, or do you not remember?"

Renji scowled, but relented, shunpoing off again without a word. He didn't want to have to put up with his annoying ex-captain for too long. Byakuya easily matched his former lieutenant's pace, and they arrived at the squad-less barracks in only a few minutes.

They knocked on the door to their lieutenants' barracks and entered without waiting for an answer, only to freeze in their tracks because of a strange sight. Ichigo was tugging Shiro's hair and shouting at him, while Shiro kicked Ichigo's shin and shouted even louder.

"That hurts, you baka! Let go of my hair! Get off of me! I didn't do it, dammit! It's not my fault that I can't control my Zanpakutou! You know he has a mind of his own!"

"I don't care! Zangetsu shouldn't have to put up with Taiyo's shit! He nearly tore your Zanpkautou apart, and he'll do it again if Taiyo even _thinks _about repeating what he said!"

"But why are you attacking _me _over it? It was Taiyo's fault, go punish him!"

"You know as well as I do that I can't do that!"

"Then let go of my hair!"

"Then stop kicking my leg!"

"Let go of my hair first!"

"Get Taiyo to apologize to Zangetsu!"

"I can't control that bastard!"

"Then I'm not letting go of your hair!"

Shiro let out an outraged cry and pushed his hand under Ichigo's chin; he snapped his head backwards and made him stumble away, releasing the snow white hair between his fingers.

"Hah! There! Now then-"

A small 'ahem' interrupted Shiro's triumphant cry and made them both freeze and turn slowly on the tips of their feet toward the door, where they saw a smirking Renji and a nearly stoic Byakuya. Byakuya's eyes were glinting and were crinkled at the edges, but other than that, he gave no other sign that his mask was broken.

"Eh heh, Kuchiki Taichou, Abarai Taichou! How can we help you?" Ichigo questioned as he scooted indiscreetly away from Shiro, who was running his fingers through his hair, wincing every few seconds.

"You have a mission in Karakura town."

Intrigued, the two doppelgangers perked up and listened to the mission briefing, which was done mostly by Byakuya, much to Renji's irritation.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, Kuchiki Taichou," Shiro replied, trying to quell his excitement.

"Good. You will leave in the morning. Don't forget your Zanpakutou, Kurosaki." Ichigo scowled at his captain.

"How was I supposed to know that the one day I chose to leave Zangetsu in the barracks a hollow would invade Soul Society? Not my fault, _Byakuya Kuchiki_."

Shiro, Byakuya, and Renji all stared at Ichigo in surprise. Renji very nearly laughed. His best friend was slowly coming back. Ichigo's eyes widened as he realized his mistake in the rant, and immediately bowed.

"I apologize, Kuchiki Taichou. Please forgive my insolence."

Renji inaudibly sighed. '_Almost,'_ he thought. '_Hopefully after this mission he'll be back for good.'_

"Stand, Kurosaki. It was merely a mistake that won't be made again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to do since my lieutenant will be gone for an unknown amount of time." Byakuya swept out of the barrack dramatically and didn't look back. He's was gone in a flash, leaving the other three behind in an awkward silence. Renji scratched the back of his head and shrugged.

"Shiro, I want you to report back to me as soon as you've gotten rid of this hollow. That's not a request. Both of you remember this hollow has killed many Shinigami before. Don't underestimate it. And if you come back in a coffin, I'm killing you in your next life," Renji threatened with a pointed finger, before spinning and leaving as well, tension obvious in his shoulders. The look-a-likes watched him leave with unreadable expressions until they began to get ready for their mission the next day.

* * *

Shiro and Ichigo went to the Senkaimon early the next morning and were pleasantly surprised by the relatively large send-off party waiting for them. Nel was talking animatedly to Grimmjow, who was rubbing his eyes tiredly. Ulquiorra watched on with his normally blank expression. Starrk was leaning up against a wall while Lilynette ranted and raved nearby. Harribel stared at the scene with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. A few feet away, Renji was having a quiet conversation with Rukia, but they both looked up when they noticed the two Shinigami's approach.

"Shiro! Ichigo! Hey!" Grimmjow boomed before anybody else could greet them. The bluenette strode over and pounded both of them on the back. Before either of them could respond, a high-pitched squeal warned them to step to the side. Nel flew past them, but spun around and captured Ichigo in a bear hug.

"Nel! Don't murder them!" Grimmjow scolded as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pried her off Ichigo, who couldn't help but compare this to their first meeting. Nel pouted, but released Ichigo and spun to embrace Grimmjow, nuzzling his neck. Shiro's eyes widened and he spluttered in alarm.

"Grimmjow? W-what are you not telling us?" Grimmjow chuckled and wrapped his arm around Nel's waist.

"I figured it be obvious, whitey." Shiro gaped at Grimmjow, not even fazed by the insult.

"You and Nel?"

"Gotta problem with that?"

"Course not! I'm just surprised!"

"Alright then. Now drop it."

"Won't you guys just get along," Ichigo sighed as he rubbed his orange locks passively. He wandered over to where Rukia and Renji had been watching the scene with amusement.

"Hello Kuchiki Fukutaichou, Abarai Taichou." Rukia chuckled, shaking her head before lightly shoving his shoulder.

"Ichigo, just call me Rukia. We're at the same rank, so it's not a big deal."

"Okay then, Rukia. What're you guys doing here?" Renji tipped his head back and laughed, his bright red hair shaking and revealing even more of the black tattoos across his forehead.

"We're here to see you off of course! And-"

"Yamamoto-Soutaichou sent me to give you some inside information on the hollow you're going after," Rukia interrupted Renji with a sniff before continuing. "You may know that it hasn't been given a name, so if you see any defining things about it when you kill it, go ahead and give it a name. I was one of the ones sent to defeat the hollow, but it always was gone by the time yo- er, my partner and I got there. So keep your eyes out and be ready. He kills quickly. Be safe. Now if you'll excuse me, my brother requests my presence. I apologize for not being able to see you off." Ichigo waved away her apology with a small smile and she returned it likewise before shunpoing off without another word.

Renji stared in the direction Rukia disappeared in with an expression that seemed almost forlorn before turning to look at the two lieutenants.

"Listen to what Rukia said. She knows what she's talking about." He glanced over their shoulders before continuing. "The Senkaimon is ready for you now. Remember; be safe, stay alert, and don't do anything stupid." He glared at them both meaningfully. "Shiro, you have your soul phone, right?"

"Yes, Abarai Taichou."

"Good. Then I'll let you take your leave. Good luck to both of you." With that, and a nod, the captain of the fifth squad shunpoed away, leaving behind a grumbling albino and orange-head.

They turned and gave a quick farewell to each of their friends, which were received with varying degrees of excitement.

Two Hell Butterflies flew over to hover above their shoulders. With one final wave, they were in the Dangai Precipice World and on their way to start their newest missions; one assigned by their superiors, the 13 Court Guard Squads and the other a quest to find out what those same superiors were hiding from all of Seireitei.

The two jogged on the path between the oozing walls warily and in uncharacteristic silence. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they spotted the exit just in front of them. They picked up their pace and smiled as they stepped out, only to stumble with unmanly screeches that would later be denied as they realized they were arriving into the World of the Living in mid-air. After gathering reishi beneath their feet to steady themselves, they felt what could only be compared to a cage being put on their stores of reiatsu, making them inaccessible. It was uncomfortable, but not severely unpleasant.

They eased themselves to the ground and gazed around at the bustling city in front of them. People were striding down the sidewalk on their way to work, while children giggled as they raced each other to school.

Shiro glanced over at Ichigo to see him with his brows furrowed, as if straining to remember something. Shiro could almost see the gears turning in his head. When he finished thinking so much, Ichigo sighed and turned to face Shiro, looking tired and worn.

"Shall we start?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and Shiro snorted in amusement.

"I've been waitin' for you, Ichi'!" Ichigo scowled at this and punched Shiro's shoulder before stomping away grumpily. The albino chuckled before following his companion.

They wandered around for a while, mostly walking in the air above Karakura for a birds' eye view of the city. The two didn't speak much and Shiro didn't want to be the one to break the silence, especially since Ichigo had a grim and serious look on his face. His stomach growled and he opened his mouth to ask if they should get some food when a beep interrupted him. The small noise came from the albino's shihakusho and Ichigo's attention was immediately on the phone Shiro was pulling out. The lieutenant of the 5th squad mentally calculated where the hollow was, as indicated by the blinking dot on a grid on the screen.

"It's close. Let's go," Shiro commanded as he flipped the phone shut. They shunpoed to try and catch the hollow, forgetting about their hunger and began wondering if this was their target. They quickly leaped towards the hollow, passing by a wide river when Ichigo flinched and shut his eyes, only to open them back up to once more continue to hunt down the hollow. The 6th squad Fukutaichou looked away from Shiro's direction, but not before the latter saw his slightly haunted expression and a strange curiosity at his friend's expression took over. Normally Ichigo would tell him what was going on in his head, so they could figure it out together, but he was staying silent this time, which was puzzling. He shrugged it off and picked up his pace.

They finally stopped in a wooded park, but there was no sign of a hollow. The only sounds were two voices of a woman and her son nearby. The woman was dribbling a soccer ball between her feet as her small toddler giggled and attempted to kick it out from between her feet. She nimbly dodged a few feet away and the boy followed once again and the process repeated.

"I don't see anything here, Ichigo. Maybe it was a false alarm?" Shiro wondered aloud and the woman froze, her black hair settling back onto her shoulders as she bounced the ball into her hands and quietly shushed her son.

"I doubt it, Shiro. Soul Society doesn't make mistakes like that. Let's look around the park and see what we find. You head in that direction, I'll go this way," Ichigo strategized, pointing Shiro in the direction of the young mother and himself in the other.

Shiro nodded and leapt deftly into the air, propelling himself up until he was above the tree line. He peered in every direction, but he couldn't see anything so he shunpoed to the opposite side of the park. After seeing nothing there, he made to meet up with Ichigo, but was stopped by a loud scream in the direction he'd come from. His mind instantly conjured up a mental still-frame of the mother and boy, and, with a worried expression on his face, he spun and shunpoed as quickly as he could back to the large clearing.

The first thing he saw was a large hollow glaring down at the two humans before letting out a roar. The black-haired woman glared at the hollow and told her son to go play on the playground and that everything was ok. The toddler shook as he looked up, almost as if he could see the hollow as well and turned to sprint as quickly as his little legs would allow him, and hid under the slide.

After satisfied that her son was safe, the woman turned to prepare for the hollow's attack, only to see someone standing in front of her.

"Hey! Where'd you come from, Shinigami?" At Shiro's bewildered look that was cast at her over his shoulder, she scoffed and continued. "Yes, I can see you and the hollow. Now, you might want to pay attention, because it looks like it's about to do something."

Shiro spun back around, simultaneously pulling Taiyo no Ryu from its sheath and setting himself in a battle stance in front of the woman. The hollow regarded them for another few seconds before launching himself at Shiro, who sliced off the hollow's arm and forced it away from them. The hollow roared in pain and glared at them before attacking again.

Shiro swung Taiyo and absently noted the sky was getting darker as he just barely missed the hollow's mask when it dexterously dodged to the side. A rain drop hit Shiro's cheek, but he ignored it in favour of getting rid of the hollow threatening the humans' lives.

He moved to swing his sword, but before he could, his vision blurred and a great pain bloomed in his head. He cried out and attempted to push back the pain long enough to beat the hollow, but it didn't work. A series of images played in front of his eyes.

He was bloody, holding the hilt of a sealed Zanpakutou that he didn't recognize and glaring at a hairy hollow in front of him. He felt like an observer and participant at the same time, strangely enough. The hollow's eyes were mocking him and a woman suddenly appeared in front of him and spoke. She had a melodic voice and Shiro recognized it, but he couldn't recall _who _the beautiful light-haired woman before him was. She crooned to him and spoke gently, calling him Ichigo, and Shiro was too fascinated with her to notice. Suddenly he felt a pain in his side and he choked, coughing up blood.

Another scene flashed in front of his eyes. It was dusty and he was exhausted. Something was blocking his vision, and he panicked. _'Have I become a hollow?'_ He thought frantically, but, somehow, it felt like _he _wasn't thinking that rather than _someone else._ He felt a familiar hilt in his hand. He swung his hand up and smashed the mask on his face and moved the rest to the side. He blinked as he saw tanned hands rather than his white ones, and then he felt as if he were being pushed away, and he fell into darkness.

What felt like hours later, he blearily blinked his eyes open. To his surprise, the hollow, woman, and all his surroundings were frozen. He couldn't move his limbs and he began to panic, before he felt a familiar presence near him.

"Taiyo!" He swivelled his eyes above and behind him, where he saw his Zanpakutou's humanoid form slouching. His bright red hair hung limply around his face and his orange eyes were dull with exhaustion. He limped over to Shiro and sat down.

"Do you know what you just saw?" The Zanpakutou inquired quietly as he stared down at Shiro, who was still paralyzed.

"No," Shiro muttered as he examined his partner's eyes. They glimmered, but were unreadable. Taiyo could normally be read like a book, and this puzzled Shiro.

Taiyo continued as if he were unaware of Shiro's investigation of his emotions. "Those were memories from your past life." He sucked in a breath and clutched his chest. He tried to speak, but it only came out a gargled mess, before he collapsed to the ground and dissipated.

"Taiyo? Taiyo? Taiyo no Ryu! Stop messing with me! What's going on?" Shiro yelled as he continued to struggle against his invisible bonds. A wave of calm flowed through him and his muscles loosened as he began to wonder, again, what was going on.

'_**Relax, Shiro. I'm ok; I just went back to your inner world. You'll learn what is going on soon enough. I slowed down time so you can still protect those humans and kill that hollow.' **_Taiyo murmured to Shiro through mindspeak and Shiro mentally nodded back, hesitantly. Then darkness overcame him again.

This time he opened his eyes to see the hollow with its mouth open and eyes eager, diving at Shiro to try and eat him. The albino yelped and rolled out of the way gripping Taiyo in his hands again. The Zanpakutou quivered in his hands and he grinned before leaping at the hollow with a battle cry. The hollow roared back in return and tried to once again dodge out of the way of his blade, to no avail. The hollow dissipated with one last cry of rage and sorrow and Shiro sheathed Taiyo with a click, before turning to look back at the woman.

She was scrutinizing him with charcoal-colored eyes, appearing as if she wanted to ask something, but she wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"What's your name?" Shiro asked before she could say anything. The woman scowled and crossed her arms.

"What's it to you, Shinigami?"

"I'm curious to know the name of the human I just saved that can somehow see me." A vein throbbed in the woman's forehead and she glared at the albino in anger as the rain continued to drizzle around them.

"I could have protected myself easily, but you stepped in before I could," she retorted and Shiro found her temper quite familiar, but before he could follow this train of thought, her son came running out from under the slide and clutched onto her leg.

"Mommy! Is the monster gone now?" He inquired frantically as his brown eyes moved to peer around the clearing. The woman calmed him as she picked him up to settle him on her hip and ruffle his black hair affectionately.

"Don't worry Fuyuki, he's gone now. Now, Shinigami, what's _your _name?"

"Haku Tsukino. May I ask for yours now?"

"Fine. My name is Karin. Wh-"

"Shiro! What happened here?" A voice demanded, cutting off what Karin was about to say. Karin's eyes dilated as she recognized the voice; a voice she hadn't heard for over 5 years.

"Ichi-nii?" She murmured as she turned and, indeed, spotted the orange-haired Shinigami who held the title 'brother'. Ichigo glanced over his shoulder, but didn't see anyone. He pointed at his chest.

"Are you talking to me?" He asked with a confused look. The woman in front of him was familiar, but he didn't recognize the boy on her hip.

"I-ichi-nii? Don't you remember? It's me, Karin! Your younger sister! What about Yuzu?" Karin questioned desperately, while Fuyuki and Shiro glanced back and forth between the two.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember you. I don't remember anything about my human life," Ichigo apologized in a murmur, hanging his head sadly. Karin's eyes widened at this confession, but narrowed again dangerously.

"Why do you look so defeated?" She shouted, startling her son, who clutched onto her shoulders in fright. "Why are you hanging your head? The brother I knew was strong and would fight anything! Just because you have amnesia doesn't mean you won't remember eventually! Come with me; I'm taking you to Goat Face." Karin fumed as she turned to lead them out of the park after putting the soccer ball into a net-bag and shouldering it with ease. She paused and turned to look back at the doppelgangers, who still looked shocked at her outburst.

"Are you coming or not?" Her sharp question jerked the two out of their reveries and they followed along bemusedly. They walked along in silence, before Ichigo finally spoke up, voicing the question he and Shiro both had.

"Who's Goat Face?" Karin shot him an amused glance before rolling her eyes.

"Dad. Isshin Kurosaki. He'll know what to do." At this, Ichigo was so startled he nearly tripped.

"Isshin Kurosaki? Great! You're taking us right where we want to go!"

"Well, that didn't take a lot of convincing. Oh, Fuyuki, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce you. This is Haku Tsukino and Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo is your uncle, but he's like all those spirits who talk to you. Ichi-nii, this is your nephew, Fuyuki."

"So Uncle Ichi's a ghost?" Fuyuki asked as he chewed on his pointer finger, which Karin promptly whacked out of his mouth. The boy pouted, but didn't chew on it again.

"Pretty much," Karin answered.

"Cool!" The boy crowed as he stared at Ichigo with a new enthusiasm than before. Ichigo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"I suppose so," he muttered. The boy began to question him quickly, without giving him time to answer, and Karin shot Ichigo an apologetic look.

"He talks a lot for a 3 year old. Sorry." Ichigo shrugged, but continued to listen to Fuyuki's ramblings, until they finally stepped in front of a building with a sign that said 'Kurosaki Clinic' and stopped.

"Here we are," Karin announced, and Ichigo nervously nodded back and exchanged a nod with Shiro, who had been abnormally quiet.

'_Here we are.'_

* * *

**So just to give you some perspective, when Ichigo died, he was 24. If he were still alive now, he'd be 29. **

**I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I would appreciate feedback...like, a lot. I want to know if I kept them in character. I realized I haven't been doing that very well for all the other chapters...XP**

**Review Replies:**

**Shawna: ****Yeah, I feel bad for doing this to Renji as well...**

**Legend of Zelda 4 life: ****Hahaha! Sarcasm is a beautiful thing;) I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter, and I hope this one is just as good! I can see the end of the story!**

**deadpoolhulk: Yeah, he kind of was a 'chosen one' but that makes him sound like Harry Potter XP**

**kitsunelover300: ****I like that idea. And I know exactly how to fit it in to the story. Well, I had planned for it to be similar to Pantera, but since Grimmjow, sadly, isn't the focus in this story, we're not going to see Pantera's Soul Reaper equivalent :( And I see what you did there ;)**

**mist shadow: ****It wasn't several years. Only about 3. Which is still a long time, but she's been busy with being a lieutenant. XD Didnt mean to make Chad and Ishida OOC. Woops. And everything will be revealed soon...**

**Xiang Yun: ****Thanks? And no, no yaoi. It was decided a while ago, and that won't change :)**


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